TEL AVIV, Sept 8 (Reuters) – Israeli Foreign Minister Gideon Saar on Tuesday said that it was closing Britain’s consulate in East Jerusalem, accredited to the Palestinian Authority in the West Bank, after London announced it was imposing sanctions on goods from Israeli settlements.
Saar also said Britain would no longer be able to allowed to participate in the U.S.-led coordination mission for Gaza in Israel, that British training of Palestinian Authority forces in the West Bank would be terminated, and that some elected UK officials and other nationals would be banned from entering Israel.
“The British move is morally distorted, and constitutes blatant interference in the affairs of a sovereign state and its electoral process,” he said, labelling what he described as accusations made by Foreign Minister Ed Miliband earlier as “outrageous lies”.
Saar said that he had coordinated Israel’s response with Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu. Israel will hold an election in late October.
(Reporting by Alexander Cornwell, Steven Scheer and Lina Obeid; Editing by Alison Williams)
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