Sa'ar ties British consulate closure to UK's 'hostile steps' toward Israel

Israeli Foreign Minister Gideon Sa'ar said on Thursday, 8 October 2026, that every countermeasure he announced against the British government has now been carried out, and he warned other countries that Israel would respond to what he described as hostile policies. According to a press release issued by the Israeli government, he made the remarks at the Jerusalem Post Diplomatic Conference, held at the Friends of Zion Museum in Jerusalem, in an onstage conversation with Jerusalem Post News Editor Alex Winston.

The two main subjects, the government release said, were the closure of the British Consulate in Jerusalem and Israel's campaign to persuade more countries to place their embassies in the city. Sa'ar said Colombia would open its embassy in Jerusalem next week, which he counted as the tenth, and that an agreement had already been reached with the Democratic Republic of the Congo on an eleventh.

What Sa'ar said about Britain

Sa'ar framed the consulate closure as part of Israel's answer to policies of the current British government, which is led by the Labour Party. He said that since taking office it had taken a long list of steps against Israel. The most recent, in his account, were sanctions targeting Israeli communities in Judea and Samaria and additional limits on British defence exports to Israel.

He said that on September 8 he had announced a set of countermeasures in response, and that all of them have since been implemented. The release does not list what those countermeasures were.

Sa'ar presented two conclusions. The first was that any country acting against Israel should expect a response. The second was that a country following what he called a one sided and unbalanced policy would lose influence in the region, naming Judea and Samaria, Gaza and Jerusalem. "The time of containment" toward such countries "is over," he said. He added that Israel had not sought this outcome: "We did not choose this path," he said, placing responsibility on the Labour government and warning that any country taking a similar course should expect that "Israel will respond accordingly."

The embassy campaign

Most foreign governments keep their embassies to Israel in or near Tel Aviv rather than in Jerusalem, because the city's status remains disputed internationally and Palestinians seek part of it as a future capital. Israel regards Jerusalem as its capital and has sought to persuade other countries to move their missions there.

Sa'ar said that when he became foreign minister there were five embassies in Jerusalem. In the government's account of his remarks, he said Colombia's embassy will be the tenth when it opens next week, and that the Democratic Republic of the Congo has agreed to open the eleventh. He described the diplomatic count as secondary to what he called the underlying truth, that Jerusalem is the capital of the Jewish people and of the State of Israel.

Terms and names

Judea and Samaria is the biblical name the Israeli government uses for the territory widely known internationally as the West Bank. Its use in official statements signals the government's position on the area.

The Jerusalem Post is an English-language Israeli newspaper, and its Diplomatic Conference brings together Israeli officials and members of the foreign diplomatic community. The Friends of Zion Museum, where the event took place, is located in Jerusalem.

A consulate is a diplomatic office that is distinct from an embassy and typically handles services and relations in a particular city or area. The release does not describe the functions the British Consulate in Jerusalem carried out.

What the report does not say

This account rests on a single source, a press release from the Israeli government, which presents the foreign minister's own words. No response from the British government is included, and its view of the consulate closure or of the countermeasures is not reported.

The release does not state explicitly who ordered the consulate's closure, when it took effect, or what happens to the services it provided. It does not list the measures Sa'ar announced on September 8, nor does it detail the British sanctions or export restrictions he cited. It gives no date for when the Congolese embassy would open, and it does not name the embassies already operating in Jerusalem.