After Britain announced sanctions on Israeli settlements in the West Bank, Israel has announced retaliatory measures and said that the British consulate in Jerusalem will also be closed.
Speaking at a press conference on Tuesday, Israeli Foreign Minister Gideon Saar said that Israel will close the British consulate in Jerusalem.
According to the British government, the ‘British Consul General in Jerusalem’ represents the British government in Jerusalem, the West Bank and Gaza and works on political, commercial, security and economic interests between the UK and Palestine.
The Israeli Foreign Minister announced a series of ‘Israeli countermeasures’ in response to the sanctions announced by the British government today.
He said the measures followed a “series of anti-Israeli decisions” by the Labour government, while accusing British Foreign Secretary Ed Miliband of “baseless and inflammatory lies.”
The Israeli foreign minister accused the Labour government of “systematically working against the State of Israel.”
In addition to closing the British consulate in Jerusalem, the retaliatory measures announced by Israel against the UK include:
Removing British representatives from the International Gaza Support Center in the southern Israeli city of Kiryat Gat.
Ending British training activities for Palestinian Authority security forces under the British Support Team in Ramallah. The Israeli government refers to the West Bank as “Judea and Samaria.”
Banning 12 British elected representatives and other British citizens from entering Israel. According to Saar, the ban will be imposed on individuals who engage in “anti-Semitic or anti-Israel activities,” or who “deny the very existence of the state of Israel.”
It should be noted that British Foreign Secretary Ed Miliband has announced a number of measures, including a ban on the import of goods from Israeli settlements illegally established in the occupied West Bank.
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