British Consulate Signs Removed in Jerusalem as Deadline Expires
The correspondent watched crews remove the plaque identifying the building as the consulate, along with the signage for its consular section.
The 30-day deadline was set by Israeli Foreign Minister Gideon Saar, who ordered the closure in retaliation for British sanctions on illegal Israeli settlements in the occupied West Bank, including a ban on imports of settlement products.
In a post on the US platform X, Saar said Israel had set a “clear principle” that any step taken against it would draw a proportionate Israeli response. He said countermeasures to the steps Britain announced on Sept. 8 were now in effect. They include removing British representatives from the international aid coordination center for Gaza in Kiryat Gat, halting British activities to train Palestinian Authority forces in the West Bank, and barring 12 elected British officials and other citizens from entering Israel.
“The British Consulate in Jerusalem ceases operations today,” Saar said, adding that the signage had been removed as a result.
British Foreign Secretary Ed Miliband gave a different account, saying the “Consulate General building will not be closing, and will be known as the UK Mission, Jerusalem from today.”
Saar said Israeli and British officials held talks over the past week to head off further escalation and reached understandings late Wednesday. Miliband also confirmed the talks.
Under those understandings, Saar said, the consulate formally ceased operations Thursday, and 20 diplomats, including the consul general, will end their assignments and leave Israel. He said the building remains British government property and that Israel has allowed London to keep a team of seven diplomats there, limited to a “very limited” range of activities.
The consulate, in East Jerusalem’s Sheikh Jarrah neighborhood, handles Britain’s relations with Palestinians in Jerusalem, the West Bank and Gaza, and also provides consular services.
The closure order does not affect the British Embassy in Tel Aviv.
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