LONDON/TEL AVIV/PARIS – Israel said on Tuesday it was closing Britain’s consulate in East Jerusalem in response to plans by the U.K., France and Canada to block imports from Israeli settlements in the West Bank.
Britain will also no longer participate in a U.S.-led coordination mission for the Gaza Strip, and some British officials, including former Labour party leader Jeremy Corbyn, and other nationals will be banned from entering Israel, Israeli Foreign Minister Gideon Saar said.
“The British move is morally distorted and constitutes blatant interference in the affairs of a sovereign state and its electoral process,” he said, describing comments by Foreign Secretary Ed Miliband about the ethnic cleansing of Palestinians by Israel as accusations that were “outrageous lies.”