Israel orders closure of U.K. consulate in Jerusalem over settlement sanctions
Israel has ordered the closure of the British consulate in Jerusalem and expelled several diplomats in retaliation for U.K.-led sanctions against Israeli settlers. The move follows accusations by the British Foreign Secretary regarding ethnic cleansing in the West Bank, which Israel has vehemently denied.
Why it matters
This diplomatic escalation significantly strains U.K.-Israel relations and highlights the intensifying international friction over the status of Jerusalem and West Bank settlement policies.
Israel on Tuesday (September 8, 2026) ordered the closure of Britain's consulate in Jerusalem as retaliation after London led Western sanctions over violence by Israeli settlers against Palestinians in the occupied West Bank.
Israel said it would also expel British diplomats at a centre monitoring the U.S.-brokered ceasefire plan in Gaza and bar British training for Palestinian Authority forces, as well as banning 12 British officials from visiting Israel.
"The accusations made today by the foreign secretary in the British Parliament were outrageous lies," Foreign Minister Gideon Saar said, after his British counterpart Ed Miliband accused Israeli settlers of "ethnic cleansing" in the West Bank.
"The British move is morally distorted and constitutes blatant interference in the affairs of a sovereign state and in its electoral process," he said, ahead of close-fought October 27 elections in which Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu is championing settlements in the West Bank.
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