UK foreign secretary ‘regrets’ Israel’s response to ban on trade with illegal settlements but ‘proud’ of his actions UK accuses Israeli ‘terrorists’ of ethnic cleansing in West Bank with government backing In his interview with Sky News this morning, Ed Miliband , the foreign secretary, said that he regretted the fact that Israel is ordering the UK to close its consulate in Jerusalem in response to the UK sanctions . But he said the government had weighed up “the costs and benefits” of its move in advance. He said: I regret what the Israeli government has announced, but I’m proud of what we did yesterday and it was the right thing to do. It will be damaging, that’s true, but we weighed up the costs and the benefits in advance of this. I would prefer that Israel hadn’t announced what it did