Daniel Wolfram
The relationship between Israel and the UK is deteriorating.
Israel has announced plans to shut down Britain’s long-standing consulate in East Jerusalem on October 8, a day after the third anniversary of the October 7 attacks.
The drastic step comes as retaliation against the UK after the country, along with 11 others, recently imposed a ban on trade in goods coming from illegal Israeli settlements.
Israel has called the trade ban a “grave miscalculation” and is retaliating by shutting down diplomatic channels in the form of consulates.
Not allowed to close it
However, legal experts insist that Israeli authorities do not have the power to close down the consulate. Former UK Attorney General Dominic Grieve has advised the Foreign Office that Israel lacks sovereign rights over East Jerusalem, which international bodies define as occupied Palestinian territory.
As reported by The Guardian, Grieve argued in a legal brief that “retaining a consulate general in East Jerusalem after recognition of the state of Palestine preserves the UK’s position that Jerusalem’s final status remains to be determined.” He added that London has a duty to resist the move under international rulings.
The mission carries historical roots. It was first set up all the way back in 1838, which means that the consulate predates the founding of Israel by more than a century. It manages crucial aid efforts and field monitoring throughout the West Bank and Gaza.
UK politicians worry about practical realities on the ground. Foreign Office minister Lord Wood admitted during a parliamentary debate that while the legal challenge holds merit, Israeli officials could easily render the diplomatic compound unusable day-to-day.
Beyond legal limits
Legal advisors stress that closing the mission hurts local civilians far more than British foreign staff. Shutting down operations damages aid delivery, cuts off independent legal observation, and limits reporting from vulnerable areas across Palestinian land.
Britain is not the only nation caught in this diplomatic crossfire. Israeli Foreign Minister Gideon Sa’ar also stripped credentials from Dutch diplomats this week after the Netherlands joined the UK in the ban on Israeli settlement imports.
Israel took similar action against Norwegian diplomats last year after Norway recognized Palestine. “We consider the Netanyahu government’s decision to be extreme and unreasonable,” Norwegian Foreign Minister Espen Barth Eide said at the time, forcing diplomats to work from Jordan instead.
