Britain’s Jerusalem mission stays open, but its work with Palestinians is in doubt

On 8 October, 2026, Israel’s foreign minister, Gideon Sa’ar, announced that the British Consulate General in Jerusalem “ceases operations today”. Overnight, workers had taken down the plaque reading “British Consulate General” from the building in Sheikh Jarrah, Reuters reported. In a statement that day, Foreign Secretary Ed Miliband renamed it the “UK Mission, Jerusalem”, described it as “independent, operational” and said it would continue its services and its work with the Palestinian people. The two governments are describing the same agreement. Sa’ar says 20 of the post’s 27 diplomats, the consul general among them, will leave, and that the seven who remain will do “very limited” work. The British statement gives no figures; it says a number of staff and […]