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Israel does not have the legal authority to close the British consulate general in East Jerusalem, former UK Attorney General Dominic Grieve has advised the Foreign Office, according to an advisory paper reported by The Guardian on Monday.
Grieve, who served as attorney general from 2010 to 2014, argued that Israel cannot close the mission because it is located in East Jerusalem, which the United Nations and most of its member states, including the UK, recognise as occupied Palestinian territory.
Israel plans to shut consulate
Israel has said it plans to close the consulate on Oct. 8 in response to Britain’s comprehensive ban on trade in goods from Israeli settlements, announced by Foreign Secretary Ed Miliband earlier this month.
Grieve urged the UK government to challenge the decision in court, arguing that Israel was claiming sovereign control over East Jerusalem that it does not possess as an occupying power.
“Retaining a consulate general in East Jerusalem after recognition of the state of Palestine preserves the UK’s position that Jerusalem’s final status remains to be determined. It does not concede Israeli sovereignty,” Grieve said.
UK Foreign Office Minister Lord Wood told the House of Lords that Grieve might have a valid argument, but warned that Israel could make the consulate “de facto” inoperable.
According to Grieve, closing the mission would also harm Palestinians by disrupting aid, monitoring and reporting from the West Bank and Gaza.
The British mission in Jerusalem dates back to 1838 and operates separately from the UK embassy in Tel Aviv.
Miliband condemns Israel’s Gaza and West Bank policies
Meanwhile, Miliband described the Israeli government’s actions in Gaza and the West Bank as “a stain on the conscience of the world” in a speech at Labour’s annual conference on Monday.
He said the security threats facing Israel “cannot justify” the actions that followed, adding that Labour had changed its approach under Andy Burnham’s leadership.
“And under Andy's leadership, we have reset our approach. We call out ethnic cleansing by the settler terrorists in the West Bank. We call out the evidence of war crimes in Gaza. We call out Israel's illegal occupation of Palestine, and we match word with action,” Miliband said.
Miliband also announced measures targeting economic ties with Israeli settlements, saying Britain would move beyond verbal condemnation.
Gaza casualties
Following the events of Oct. 7, 2023, Israel launched an offensive on the Gaza Strip that has killed nearly 74,000 people, injured about 175,000 and reduced most of the enclave to ruins.
Although a ceasefire took effect in October 2025, Israel has continued attacks on Gaza, killing more than 1,400 Palestinians and injuring nearly 5,000, according to Gaza’s Health Ministry.
A United Nations-commissioned inquiry previously concluded that Israel had committed genocide against Palestinians in Gaza.
