Jerusalem Deputy Mayor Arieh King called on the Israeli government to immediately cut water, internet, and other services to the British Consulate in Jerusalem on Monday, questioning why, if the British government views the mission as being on territory occupied by Israel, it continues to use services provided by Israel.
King’s comments came as he led a handful of protesters demonstrating outside of the consulate, less than a month before the deadline Israel set for the mission to close. The turnout fell far short of King’s expectations, with the few protesters in attendance planting flags in support of Otzma Yehudit, the far-right party of National Security Minister Itamar Ben-Gvir.
Foreign Minister Gideon Sa’ar ordered the consulate closed after the UK announced sweeping measures targeting Israeli settlements in the West Bank, including a planned ban on settlement imports to Britain.
“If you are looking at Jerusalem as the occupied territory, and if you are not considering us, the municipality of Jerusalem and the government of Israel, as the sovereign of this place, why are you getting all of these services from us?” King asked. “I’m calling the Israeli government to disconnect the electricity, the water, the telephone services.”
King said the consulate receives water supplied by Hagihon and telephone and internet services from Bezeq. He also said part of the road next to the mission had been closed for the consulate’s security, with the Jerusalem Municipality authorizing the arrangement.
“If you are serious and not just a pure hypocrite,” King said, the British government should disconnect those services itself rather than waiting for Israel to act, instead of announcing measures he described as being done “for propaganda.”
What are the UK's sanctions?
UK Foreign Secretary Ed Miliband announced the measures last week, saying they were intended to preserve the viability of a two-state solution and combat settlement expansion and settler violence.
As part of the sanctions regime, he announced, the UK “will take action against specific companies and individuals who provide services such as construction, infrastructure, financing, or real estate for settlement expansion.”
In his remarks, he also said it is now officially the view of the British government that Israel’s continued occupation of the Palestinian territories is unlawful and that “settler terrorists” were perpetrating ethnic cleansing against Palestinians in parts of the West Bank.
That day, the UK published a joint statement signed by Miliband and the foreign ministers of Canada, Denmark, Finland, France, Iceland, Ireland, Norway, Poland, Portugal, Spain, and Sweden.
The aforementioned countries said that they intended to introduce national restrictions, support European restrictions on trade with Israeli settlements in the West Bank, or were actively considering such measures, asserting that the settlements are illegal under international law.
What was Israel's response?
Israel’s response came shortly after, with Sa’ar accusing Britain of hostility toward Israel. Sa’ar and other Israeli officials, including President Isaac Herzog, also accused the UK of trying to interfere with Israel’s upcoming elections.
The foreign minister also argued that Jews have a historic right to live in the West Bank, where Jewish presence dates back thousands of years, saying, “The Jewish people have the right to live throughout the Land of Israel.”
Sa’ar also argued that the UK’s measures would push a negotiated solution further away rather than bring it closer.
Israel’s subsequent countermeasures against Britain included ordering the British Consulate closed, expelling British representatives from the Civil-Military Coordination Center in Kiryat Gat, and ending British training of Palestinian Authority security forces.
Separately, King has pushed for a symbolic municipal response to the dispute. Last week, he called for Jerusalem’s King George Street to be renamed “Tabur Haaretz.”
When asked by The Jerusalem Post how Israel could maintain its diplomatic standing while asserting sovereignty over east Jerusalem as other countries consider similar measures, King said Monday’s protest was focused specifically on governments with a diplomatic presence in Jerusalem.
“We are here in front of the British Consulate, like we were seven months ago in front of the French Consulate,” King said. “We are not demonstrating against governments of countries that don’t have a presence in Jerusalem.”
King clarified that his remarks were directed at the UK’s Labor government, and not “the people of Britain.”
During his remarks to reporters, King also rejected the British government’s characterization of the territory as occupied, arguing that Israel had not taken it from a Palestinian state.
“There was not a Palestinian state, not in 1948 and not 1967,” he said. “So, who did we occupy it from?”
King further rejected a distinction between Jewish communities in east Jerusalem, the West Bank, and places within the pre-1967 lines, such as Tel Aviv.
“There is no difference between east Jerusalem and Judea and Samaria or Binyamin,” he told the Post. “There is no difference between Tel Aviv and Jericho and Jerusalem.”