Israel’s National Security Minister Itamar Ben-Gvir has called on Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu to close Britain’s consulate in East Jerusalem following the United Kingdom’s decision to impose sanctions on Israeli settlements in the occupied West Bank.
Ben-Gvir made the demand shortly after British Foreign Secretary Ed Miliband announced the new measures in the House of Commons on Tuesday.
In a statement posted on X, the Israeli security minister accused the British consulate of operating openly on behalf of the Palestinian Authority.
“This must be Israel’s resolute response to British audacity,” Ben-Gvir said.
His call marks an immediate escalation in the Israeli political reaction to Britain’s decision to restrict trade with Israeli settlements and impose sanctions on individuals and companies involved in settlement expansion.
Miliband announced that Britain would ban imports of goods produced in Israeli settlements in the West Bank, prohibit advertising for illegal settlements in the UK and impose further sanctions on extremist settlers accused of supporting or inciting violence against Palestinian communities.
The British foreign secretary also said the government considered Israel’s occupation of the West Bank unlawful and accused settler groups of carrying out ethnic cleansing in parts of the territory.
Israeli ministers demand retaliation
Ben-Gvir’s call came after other senior Israeli officials had already threatened measures against Britain in response to the expected sanctions.
Israel’s Finance Minister Bezalel Smotrich had called for the British ambassador to be expelled, accusing the British government of acting against Israel.
Smotrich said Israel would not allow itself to be treated as a “doormat” by what he described as an antisemitic government.
Israeli Foreign Minister Gideon Saar had also warned last week that Israel would respond if Britain acted against the Israeli state.
“If Britain acts against the state of Israel, the state of Israel will act against Britain,” Saar said in comments to an Israeli podcast.
The Israeli government has yet to announce a formal response matching the measures announced by Britain.
Dispute centres on West Bank settlements
The latest confrontation is centred on Israel’s continued expansion of settlements in the occupied West Bank.
Britain’s government has strongly criticised Israel’s plans for about 1,200 new settlement homes in the E1 area east of Jerusalem, warning that the development could undermine the prospects of a future Palestinian state.
Miliband said the British sanctions were aimed at illegal settlements and settlement expansion, rather than at Israel as a country.
Israel, however, has rejected the British position.
President Isaac Herzog described the sanctions as a “grave miscalculation” and said they would fall on the “wrong side of history”.
The dispute also comes against a backdrop of heightened tensions between Israel and Britain over Gaza, the West Bank and the future of the two-state solution.
Britain’s decision is expected to put further strain on relations between London and Jerusalem, while the call by Ben-Gvir to close the British consulate could add a new diplomatic dimension to the confrontation.
