Britain threatens mass expulsion of Israeli diplomats from London

Britain is prepared to expel dozens of Israeli diplomats from the London embassy if Israel presses ahead with closing the British Consulate General in East Jerusalem. The warning has been delivered straight from British Ambassador to Israel Simon Walters, according to sources familiar with the exchange.

The message, reported by the Hebrew publication Ynet, is blunt: London would expel one Israeli diplomat for every British envoy forced out of East Jerusalem. Senior British officials have made plain that the families of those diplomats would also have to leave, two sources told the Jerusalem Post. GB News has approached both the Israeli embassy and the Foreign Office for comment.

The consulate, which handles Britain’s relations with Palestinians in Jerusalem, the West Bank and Gaza, is scheduled to shut on October 8. Dozens of locally hired staff are already being let go and British diplomatic personnel are preparing to depart. The standoff follows measures London introduced last month against Israeli settlements in the West Bank, including a ban on importing settlement-produced goods and sanctions on individuals and companies deemed to support or profit from that activity.

Britain regards the settlements as unlawful under international law, a position Israel rejects. Israeli Foreign Minister Gideon Sa’ar answered with countermeasures that included the order to close the East Jerusalem consulate within 30 days. Mr Sa’ar also expelled British representatives from the international aid coordination centre for Gaza in Kiryat Gat and ended British participation in training Palestinian Authority security forces. Israel barred 12 British lawmakers, among them former Labour leader Jeremy Corbyn and Diane Abbott, from entering the country.

The Israeli ambassador’s post in London remains vacant after Tzipi Hotovely left in September 2025. The latest moves arrive as British politicians sharpen their language on Israel. When the sanctions were announced, Mr Miliband spoke of “ethnic cleansing” in the West Bank. At the Labour conference the Foreign Secretary told pro-Palestine protesters they were right. At the United Nations Andy Burnham condemned Hamas yet insisted Israeli actions in Gaza and the West Bank could not be justified, citing the death toll and the slow flow of aid.

This is the raw state of relations: a direct threat of reciprocal expulsions hanging over the London embassy if the consulate door closes as planned.