British PM Abandons Plan to Move Embassy to Jerusalem

Former Prime Minister Liz Truss’ plans to move the British embassy in Israel to Jerusalem have been abandoned by Prime Minister Rishi Sunak, Downing Street has confirmed.

Asked whether the U.K. government was still considering a move, a No 10 spokesperson said: “It has been looked at. There are no plans to move the British embassy.”

When she was prime minister, Truss directed a review of whether the U.K. should follow the Trump administration’s lead and relocate the embassy from Tel Aviv.

The development followed a statement by British government officials to a group of journalists that there were “no plans to move the British embassy from Tel Aviv to Jerusalem,” a statement that was lauded by the PLO mission in the UK.

When Truss met with Prime Minister Yair Lapid on the sidelines of the UN General Assembly in New York in September, she informed the Israeli leader that she was conducting the review.

British church leaders, pro-Palestinian organizations, Arab ambassadors in London, European foreign ministries, and some Conservative MPs representing heavily Muslim districts all opposed the proposal.