Israel just shut down Britain's consulate and Britain is threatening to expel its diplomats
1 hour ago · 8 October 2026Share
The Mamilla area of Jerusalem, with the American Consulate visible among the pool, residential quarter and Old City walls in the background. File photo. AMERICAN COLONY · Public domain
Britain's consulate in East Jerusalem just got stripped of its signs.
Workers pulled them down a few hours ago, after Israel's deadline to shut the building passed.
Reuters journalists watched it happen. One plaque said "British Consulate General". Another marked the consular section. Both came off the wall in the Sheikh Jarrah neighbourhood of East Jerusalem. The British flag is still flying above the building. Nobody at the consulate has said a word.
So how did we get here?
Israel ordered this a month ago. Britain had 30 days to shut the consulate down and strip about 30 British diplomats and their families of diplomatic status. That deadline was today.
And this was retaliation. Britain had just announced sanctions on Israeli settlements in the occupied West Bank, including a ban on importing anything made there. France and Canada did the same thing around the same time.
Britain tried to stop this. Jonathan Powell, Britain's National Security Adviser, flew to Israel last week for undisclosed talks. Three people with knowledge of the talks told Reuters they failed. Israel's Foreign Ministry told Reuters the consulate would close as planned.
It has.
But Britain has a threat of its own on the table. Simon Walters, Britain's Ambassador to Israel, delivered a message to Israeli officials three days ago. If the consulate closes, Britain expels 27 Israeli diplomats. One for every British diplomat stripped of status.
Here's the thing though. That figure came from the Israeli outlet Ynet. The UK government has never confirmed it on the record. So right now it's a threat, not a policy.
Gideon Sa'ar, Israel's Foreign Minister, has called Britain's sanctions decision quote "morally distorted". He's accused the governing Labour Party of anti-Israel sentiment and of interfering in Israel's general election, due on 27 October.
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Detailed map of Jerusalem and vicinity with Israeli settlements as of March 1993. File photo. United States. Central Intelligence Agency. Directorate Of Intelligence · Public domain
And there's more. Israel has thrown Britain out of the Washington-led coordination centre for postwar Gaza. It has also barred 11 British lawmakers from entering the country, including the former Labour leader Jeremy Corbyn.
Britain's response so far has been quiet. Ed Miliband, the Foreign Secretary, said last month he regretted Israel's decision but wasn't surprised by it, and that Britain had weighed the costs and benefits before it acted.
Now here's why this closure stings more than it might sound.
Britain opened this consulate in 1838. That's almost 200 years ago. More than a century before the State of Israel was founded in 1948.
Vincent Fean, Britain's consul general to Jerusalem from 2010 to 2014, says quote "it's not the act of a friend or ally". He says the consulate has every right to be in East Jerusalem, which he and the United Nations treat as part of the state of Palestine, not Israel.
Two UN Security Council resolutions back that reading. Resolution 478 in 1980 and Resolution 2334 in 2016 both declared Israeli measures changing the status of Jerusalem, including East Jerusalem, null and void. Britain formally recognised the State of Palestine just over a year ago, in September 2025.
So think about where that leaves two allies.
Britain and Israel are close economic, security and intelligence partners. Expelling each other's diplomats would be a hugely unusual step between countries that work this closely together. But the sanctions and the consulate closure already mark the lowest point in the relationship in three years.
One Reuters source, not backed up anywhere else, says London isn't expected to act on the expulsion threat until after Israel's election on 27 October. If it acts at all.
So what happens now? Britain hasn't said whether it will actually expel the 27 Israeli diplomats. Israel hasn't said whether the consulate could reopen if things improve. And neither government has said what any of this does to the intelligence and security cooperation that's held this relationship together for decades.
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