Britain said on Thursday its nearly 200-year-old consulate in Jerusalem would remain operating at a smaller scale, renamed as the ‘UK Mission’, after Israel ordered it shut in a dispute over sanctions on settlements.
Israel last month issued a 30-day deadline for Britain to close its doors after London announced sanctions targeting settlements in the occupied West Bank, a dispute that has strained relations between the longtime allies. The deadline expired on Thursday.
A plaque reading ‘British Consulate General’ and another sign for its consular section were removed by workers last night, though a British flag was still flying over the building.
Israel’s foreign minister Gideon Saar has said the consulate, in East Jerusalem, would formally end operations but that some British diplomats would be allowed to continue work in the building under a deal struck between the two sides.
In a statement, Foreign Secretary Ed Miliband said: ‘We have been clear that we do not accept that the Government of Israel has the legal right to close the British Consulate General in Jerusalem, which has been there for nearly 200 years.
‘The UK Government reiterates its long-standing view that East Jerusalem is occupied territory.
‘Following discussions with the Government of Israel, our Consulate General building will not be closing, and will be known as the UK Mission, Jerusalem from today.
‘The UK Mission, Jerusalem is independent, operational and will continue to deliver vital services and our work with the Palestinian people.’
Above, the British consulate in East Jerusalem with its signage on either side of the door on September 9 this year while below it is seen on October 8 after workers took down the signs
He added the UK has ‘temporarily withdrawn a number of staff and families to ensure their safety and security’ but would work to build their presence back up.’
A senior Israeli diplomatic source told the Daily Mail: ‘The British consulate is closing. It will no longer have the diplomatic standing of a consulate, nor will it provide consular services. Its operations will be drastically reduced, with diplomatic staff cut from 27 to just seven.
‘This decision comes in response to a series of anti-Israel measures taken by the Labour Government, including its recognition of a Palestinian state, renewed funding for the United Nations Relief and Works Agency for Palestine Refugees, sanctions and restrictions on Israeli arms.
‘The British mission has been operating under Israeli diplomatic privileges and permissions while pursuing policies that Israel considers unilateral, biased and hostile to the state. We are no longer prepared to allow that arrangement to continue.’
The consulate, in the Sheikh Jarrah neighbourhood of East Jerusalem, has been in place for almost 200 years, long before the state of Israel was established in 1948. It handles UK relations with Palestinians in Jerusalem, as well as in Gaza and the West Bank.
The closure order does not affect Britain’s embassy in Tel Aviv, which handles diplomatic relations with Israel’s government.
UK officials had been scrambling to reach a deal to keep the building open but the Israeli foreign minister last night insisted his country was holding firm. Top British national security adviser Jonathan Powell quietly visited Israel last week in an attempt to keep the consulate open but failed to reach an agreement.
The move will see the consulate’s diplomatic status removed and legally bar around 30 diplomats from operating out of the building. Israel is pushing them to work from the British embassy in Tel Aviv rather than sending them home.
Britain has reportedly threatened to expel Israeli diplomats from London if its overseas staff are repatriated, which would be a highly unusual move.
In a scything attack Mr Tugendhat said it was time to stop treating the Foreign Office like ‘an international NGO’ and use it to project British power abroad.
He took aim at his opposite number for a controversial handshake with Iranian counterpart Abbas Araghchi at the UN last month against a backdrop of state-sponsored terrorism in the UK.
Traffic barriers surround the British consulate in East Jerusalem as Israel threatens to close it
Ed Miliband was condemned on Tuesday for a controversial handshake with Iranian minister Abbas Araghchi at the UN that happened while it is suspected of plotting terror attacks in the UK
And Mr Tugendhat, a former security minister, lashed out at the decision to hit Israel with sanctions over its illegal West Bank settlements, which led to a major falling-out with a key security ally.
To applause at the Conservative Party Conference in Birmingham this week he said: ‘We think it is wrong to have a man in the Foreign Office who ties our energy to China instead of deepening and strengthening our union by tapping resources from the North Sea.
‘We think it is wrong to have a Foreign Secretary who chooses to virtue signal over intelligence sharing in a way that will keep Britain safe, because that isn’t serving the British people. That is serving his personal agenda.’
The UK Foreign Office on Wednesday declined to comment when asked whether the consulate was still operating or any British diplomats working there had returned home.
Benjamin Netanyahu told the Daily Mail: ‘Britain under Burnham is like a rogue state – attacking Israel while appeasing an Islamist, leftist alliance’
Despite the current strains, the UK and Israel have long been close economic, security and intelligence partners.
The British sanctions announcement, and Israel’s subsequent order to close the consulate, mark a new low in a relationship that has deteriorated over the past three years as Benjamin Netanyahu’s government repeatedly accuses Labour of being hostile towards Israel.
The Labour Government has repeatedly criticised Israel over its actions in the war in Gaza and over Israeli settler attacks on Palestinians in the West Bank.
Last week Netanyahu told the Daily Mail that ‘Britain under Burnham is like a rogue state – attacking Israel while appeasing an Islamist, leftist alliance’.
The Israeli PM made the comments in response to the UK’s decision last month to ban trade with Israeli settlements on the West Bank, which followed Sir Keir Starmer’s decision to withhold some arms licences and to recognise a Palestinian state before all of the October 7 hostages had been freed.
The United Nations and most countries consider the West Bank settlements to be illegal under international law, which Israel disputes.
Netanyahu was particularly incensed by the sanctions because they coincided with Israeli intelligence tipping off the UK’s security services about an impending Iran-sponsored ‘murderous attack’ on RAF Fairford.
‘It was stopped. It was prevented,’ he said, adding without the intelligence Israel provided ‘it would probably have gone through and we don’t know how many British lives would have been lost’.
Netanyahu insisted Israel still regarded London as an ally, but then launched an extraordinary broadside against the Government. ‘It’s mind-blowing hypocrisy, I don’t know how many lives we have saved giving Britain information about impending attacks.
‘They’re appeasing, they’re attacking Israel, [the country] that is fighting the terrorists in the terrorist regime that is attacking them. They appease their enemies, and they attack their protectors, really. That’s what’s happening. But this is a twist of both logic and justice. It doesn’t serve Britain well, it doesn’t serve the world well.’
Mr Miliband insisted Britain would continue its presence in Israel and confirmed he was continuing to support a two-state solution, saying the UK Mission will help support this.
He said: ‘The UK stands steadfast by the measures we took on September 8, in concert with the international community, in support of a two-state solution to deliver peace and security for the people of Israel and Palestine.’
But the diplomatic source from Israel told the Daily Mail: ‘Following discussions between Israel’s Ministry of Foreign Affairs and Britain’s Foreign, Commonwealth and Development Office, it was agreed that seven British diplomats would remain in the building, which belongs to the British government. The remaining presence will have a very limited scope and will no longer function as a consulate.
‘Israel could have expelled all British diplomatic personnel from the premises, but we have deliberately chosen not to do so because we have no interest in further deteriorating diplomatic relations.
‘Nigel Farage has said that if he were to come to power, he would reverse the damaging steps taken against Israel. One would imagine that if Britain rolled back its measures against Israel, Israel would also roll back its own measures in response.
‘There is always an opportunity to reset relations through goodwill and genuine dialogue. However, the Labour government has failed to engage in genuine dialogue with Israel.’
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