Britain’s Prime Minister, Rishi Sunak, has dropped the idea of “reviewing” the location of the UK Embassy in Israel, as suggested by his predecessor Liz Truss. Her proposal was to consider moving the embassy from Tel Aviv to Jerusalem, a move that would have recognised Israel’s claim that Jerusalem is Israel’s capital. A spirited campaign across British civil society, by supporters of Palestinian equal rights such as the Balfour Project, politicians, diplomats, NGOs, the mainstream and social media and all supporters of the rule of international law, has played a major part in stopping this reckless scheme.
But we must remain vigilant. The British political scene is volatile, election talk is in the air, Israel’s supporters are strong in all main parties and Palestinian rights remain low on the Westminster agenda. A bad idea once said cannot be unsaid, and a bad move can often not be undone, as we have seen with President Biden’s reluctance to return the US Embassy to Tel Aviv, from where President Trump removed it to Jerusalem in 2017-18.
The Balfour Project asks all its members, friends and supporters to keep in close touch with their Members of Parliament about the dangerous situation unfolding in Israel/Palestine.
Meanwhile, on our website, we continue to analyse why the posited move would have been such a disastrous setback in the search for a just solution to the Israel-Palestine question.