On Thursday, on behalf of her Bradford West constituents, the Labour MP Naz Shah sent a letter to the prime minister about the reported review of the location of the UK embassy in Israel. Regarding the plan to relocate the embassy to Jerusalem, Shah spoke of the need not to take a step that might be a “catalyst of uncontrollable catastrophic events”. On a national security level, this warning should be clearly heeded if Britain is to avoid needlessly causing more damage to its reputation on the global stage. In this regard, it’s not a Labour or Conservative issue – it’s an issue of national interest, and parliament should hold the government’s feet to the fire on it.
Liz Truss’s first international engagement as prime minister happened last week, when she went to the UN general assembly meeting in New York. Considering the importance of such international forums in furthering British interests, at a time when the country has a stated goal of increasing its reach as “global Britain”, there were numerous files of great importance for the prime minister to focus upon. It is, therefore, puzzling that she used the moment to try to jettison a longstanding policy of British governments for more than 55 years, by suggesting she might move the embassy from Tel Aviv to Jerusalem. It’s a proposed change that has no identifiable benefits for the UK – and quite a few downsides.
