Rob Denning 
Israel is closing its consulate in Jerusalem, expelling a British military attaché and barring around a dozen British MPs from entering the country, foreign minister Gideon Sa'ar announced — turning London's trade sanctions into a full diplomatic rupture, according to the Daily Mail and the Guardian.
London's ban on goods from Israeli settlements in the West Bank took effect last week; Washington has stayed silent. Israel had signalled retaliation was coming — this is it.
Sa'ar said the sanctions "will not go unanswered" and dismissed Foreign Secretary Ed Miliband's statement to Parliament as "outrageous lies," per the Daily Mail. The BBC described Israel's reaction as furious.
The sanctions split opinion in Britain too. Chief Rabbi Sir Ephraim Mirvis called the decision "truly a dark day for British Jews," saying the community had never been more vulnerable, and the Conservative leader condemned the move as well, according to the Daily Mail.
Such steps are usually reserved for hostile governments, not fellow NATO and G7 members — a measure of how far this has moved beyond a trade dispute. The settlement expansion behind the UK sanctions itself threatens to close off what remains of a two-state solution, per the Daily Mail.
Hypothesis: Israel's harshest response yet targets Washington more than London. The Express argues Miliband has put Britain's "special relationship" with the US at risk and that Donald Trump will be "truly raging." Supporting this: the White House's silence so far makes it the one undecided variable. Against it: nothing yet confirms Trump has taken a position at all.
What to watch: whether Washington breaks its silence, and whether other European governments follow London's lead on settlement sanctions.
