A senior Catholic cleric has urged British Prime Minister Liz Truss not to move the UK Embassy in ‘Israel’ from Tel Aviv to Jerusalem, stressing that such an action “would be seriously damaging to any possibility of lasting peace in the region and to the international reputation of the United Kingdom.”
In a letter sent to Truss on Thursday, Cardinal Vincent Nichols, who serves as the Archbishop of Westminster and president of the Catholic Bishops’ Conference of England and Wales, cited The Vatican’s opposition to recognize Jerusalem as the unified capital of ‘Israel’.
“Pope Francis and the leaders of churches in the Holy Land have long called for the international status quo on Jerusalem to be upheld, in accordance with the relevant UN resolutions,” Nichols tweeted. “The city must be shared as a common patrimony, never becoming an exclusive monopoly of any party.”
Nichols emphasized that he could “see no valid reason why a move needs now to be considered. I ask the Prime Minister earnestly to reconsider the intention she has expressed and to focus all efforts on seeking a two-state solution, in which Jerusalem would have a guaranteed special status.”
UK’s Prime Minister Liz Truss said that she is weighing the relocation of Britain’s Israel embassy in Tel Aviv to the occupied city of Jerusalem – a decision that would follow former US President Donald Trump’s provocative move.
Truss told Israeli Prime Minister Yair Lapid about the move during a meeting at the United Nations summit in New York City on September 21.
During her campaign for the leadership of the British Conservative Party, Truss also told the Conservative Friends of Israel (CFI) lobby group 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.
Last week, Truss and other cabinet ministers attended an event organised by the CFI at the ruling party’s annual conference in Birmingham, telling the audience that she is a “huge Zionist and huge supporter of Israel” and pledged that she would “take the UK-Israel relationship from strength to strength”.
Speaking at the CFI’s event, Jake Berry, the Conservative party chairman, pledged his “unwavering commitment as chairman of the party that we will continue to build strong relationships with the state of Israel and to support it in its fight to ensure that it remains safe and that the capital in Jerusalem is the home to our new embassy.”
Robert Jenrick, the health minister, also alluded to UK government-owned land where an embassy could be built. Jenrick said, “We have a site in Jerusalem there waiting to go. It is time we took responsibility and built that embassy and recognised that the true capital of the state of Israel is obviously Jerusalem.”
Board of Deputies President Marie van der Zyl and Israeli ambassador to the UK Tzipi Hotovely attended the event, urging Truss to proceed with the embassy move.
The Board’s President told the audience,” We are really hopeful that the government is going to move the embassy, like America, to Jerusalem – the capital of Israel.” Hotovel also suggested that a “review” of the British embassy’s location ought to be pursued.
She told the packed event, “Nothing can be more significant to show the friendship between Israel and the UK than this step.” “There is just one capital to the UK, and that is London. There is just one capital to Israel, Jerusalem,” she continued.
“For the last two thousand years, it’s been Jerusalem, always our spiritual home. We can’t ignore the historic truth,” Hotovel said, claiming that the US decision to relocate its embassy to occupied Jerusalem “promoted peace.”
In 2017, former US President Donald Trump recognized Jerusalem as Israel’s capital and moved the U.S. Embassy to the occupied Jerusalem in May 2018, prompting criticism from the Palestinians, most Muslim-majority countries, and many states in Europe, as they concerned that it would undermine prospects for a two-state solution to the so-called “Israeli-Palestinian conflict.”
The UK, like most countries, currently has its embassy in Tel Aviv because of the disputed status of Jerusalem.
The UK prime minister at the time, Theresa May, criticized Trump’s move.
The United States, Honduras, Guatemala, and Kosovo are the only nations who have their embassies in occupied Jerusalem.
