Israel to close British consulate in Jerusalem after sanctions announced

Several MPs also banned from Israel after UK steps up condemnation of settlements and announces sweeping sanctionsIsrael has ordered the closure of the British consulate in occupied East Jerusalem in response to sweeping UK sanctions on goods from illegal settlements. Reacting to Ed Miliband’s description of violent Jewish settler activity on the occupied Palestinian West Bank as “ethnic cleansing” carried out with the tacit backing of the Netanyahu government, Israel’s foreign minister, Gideon