LONDON (Reuters) – British Prime Minister Liz Truss has told her Israeli counterpart she is reviewing the location of Britain’s embassy in Israel, her office said on Thursday.
Israeli Prime Minister Yair Lapid tweeted earlier on Thursday that he was grateful to her for considering moving the embassy to Jerusalem.
The British embassy in Israel is located in Tel Aviv where most other countries have their embassies.
The two leaders met at the United Nations General Assembly in New York.
“The Prime Minister informed Prime Minister Lapid about her review of the current location of the British Embassy in Israel,” a spokesperson for the British leader’s Downing Street office said in a statement.
The statement offered no further details.
Husam Zomlot, head of the Palestinian mission in London, told Times Radio he was shocked at Truss’s review, and said any move to relocate the British embassy would “destroy” the relationship with the British government.
The United States opened an embassy in Jerusalem in 2018 under former President Donald Trump, breaking with decades of U.S. policy by recognising the city as Israel’s capital.
The move was welcomed by Israel and criticised by the Arab world and Western allies.
At the time, Britain under former Prime Minister Theresa May had no plans to move its embassy and disagreed with the U.S. move.
Israel’s government regards Jerusalem as the indivisible capital of the country, although that is not recognised internationally. Palestinians say East Jerusalem must be the capital of a future Palestinian state.
(Reporting by Sachin Ravikumar; Editing by Howard Goller)
