The United Kingdom could become only the second world power to relocate its Israel embassy to Jerusalem. UK Prime Minister Liz Truss has said she is actively considering the relocation of Britain's Israel embassy to Jerusalem.
The American embassy in Israel was relocated from Tel Aviv to Jerusalem in 2018, as former President Donald Trump made good on his campaign promise. Theresa May, who was the British prime minister at that time, had criticized Trump's move.
Lapid Thanks Truss
Following the US move to shift the embassy to Jerusalem, a decision met with stiff resistance from Palestine groups and their international supporters, Gautemala and Honduras also moved the embassy to Jerusalem. Later, Kosovo, which is the only Muslim-majority nation in Europe, also relocated its embassy to Jerusalem.
Italian far right political leader Matteo Salvini has said if his party is elected to power in elections to be held this week, Rome's embassy in Israel will be moved to Jerusalem.
The move from Britain was announced following a meeting between Truss and her Israeli counterpart Yair Lapid on the sidelines of the United Nations General Assembly in New York.
According to IANS, Truss informed "Lapid about her review of the current location of the British Embassy in Israel." Lapid thanked Truss for the gesture. "I want [to] thank my good friend, British Prime Minister Liz Truss, who announced that she is positively considering moving the British Embassy to Jerusalem, the capital of Israel," Lapid tweeted.
Truss, who won a hotly contested Tory leadership battle earlier this month, had promised Conservative Friends of Israel in August that she would consider relocating the British embassy to Jerusalem.
Game Changer
Truss's move would be a game changer for Israel, as the UK would be the only second superpower to move its embassy to Jerusalem, which the Jewish state considers its natural, historical capital.
Former US President Trump had said at the time of the relocation of the US embassy that the Israelis had no better friends than him.
Speaking during the Israeli-American Council National Summit held at the Diplomat Beach Resort Hollywood, Florida, Trump had said his administration was committed to confront the "poison" of anti-Semitism. "The Jewish state has never had a better friend in the White House than your President, Donald J. Trump," Trump said.
"You've got a beautiful embassy, it's in Jerusalem and you have something you have always wanted," he added.
