British PM reviewing relocation of UK embassy to Jerusalem

British Prime Minister Liz Truss has told Prime Minister Yair Lapid at the United Nations that she is reviewing a relocation of the country’s embassy from Tel Aviv to Jerusalem.

According to a spokeswoman for Downing Street, Truss told Lapid “about her review of the current location of the British Embassy in Israel,” The Times of Israel reported on September 22.

Lapid tweeted his thanks to the British leader for considering the move. “We will continue to strengthen the partnership between the countries,” he said.

When former US president Donald Trump ordered Washington to relocate its embassy to Jerusalem in 2017, the UK prime minister at the time, Theresa May, criticized the move.

Truss, however, told the UK’s Conservative Friends of Israel last month, before she became prime minister, that she would review the UK’s decision to remain in Tel Aviv if she became the British leader.

“I understand the importance and sensitivity of the location of the British Embassy in Israel. I’ve had many conversations with my good friend Prime Minister Yair Lapid on this topic,” she said.

That announcement in August brought predictable criticism from former UK diplomats, 10 of whom wrote to The Times saying that an embassy move should await the establishment of a Palestinian state.