Relations between London and Tel Aviv are heading toward one of their most serious diplomatic crises in years.
According to i24NEWS, British officials have informed Israel that London would respond by expelling 27 Israeli diplomats along with their families if Netanyahu’s government proceeds with closing the British Consulate in East Jerusalem and expelling the diplomats working there. The report is based on two sources familiar with the discussions.
The critical date: October 8
Israeli Foreign Minister Gideon Sa’ar had ordered the consulate to be closed starting October 8 in response to British sanctions related to settlements in the West Bank.
London has tightened measures against settlement activity, while the British government considers East Jerusalem to be occupied territory and does not recognize Israeli sovereignty over it.
The crisis has become serious enough that British National Security Adviser Jonathan Powell reportedly made an unannounced visit to Israel last week in an attempt to prevent the consulate’s closure.
According to Reuters, the talks have so far failed to produce an agreement, although contacts are continuing.
The issue is much bigger than a consular building.
The British Consulate in Jerusalem is not simply a mission providing consular services. It is one of the main channels through which Britain maintains relations with Palestinians in Jerusalem, the West Bank, and Gaza.
Its closure would therefore send a political message that goes far beyond an administrative or diplomatic dispute.
The proposed British response would also be highly unusual: roughly one Israeli diplomat expelled for every British diplomat affected by the closure.
If implemented, the dispute would move from a disagreement over settlements into a direct diplomatic confrontation between two governments that have historically been among the closest Western partners.
What is actually happening?
Israel appears to be trying to make sanctions over settlement activity diplomatically costly for the countries imposing them.
Britain, meanwhile, wants to make clear that closing its mission in East Jerusalem will not go unanswered, particularly because London fundamentally rejects the idea that East Jerusalem falls under Israeli sovereignty.
That turns the dispute into a test of political resolve:
Will Netanyahu and Sa’ar back down before October 8, or will they proceed with the closure and trigger a wave of reciprocal diplomatic expulsions that could be unprecedented in the modern relationship between the two countries?
So far, the threat to expel the 27 Israeli diplomats has been reported by Israeli media and attributed to informed sources. The British government has not yet publicly announced it as an implemented measure.
But the fact that the dispute has reached this stage already shows how rapidly relations between London and Tel Aviv are deteriorating.