On September 23, reports emerged that British Prime Minister Liz Truss is mulling moving the United Kingdom's embassy to Israel from Tel Aviv to Jerusalem. The United States shifted its embassy to Jerusalem in 2018. President George W Bush had made a campaign pledge to do so. But he backed down when advised by Arabist experts that such a demarche would be inflammatory to Muslim opinion the world over. The decision was later taken by Donald Trump in December 2017 and the actual shift took place in May next year.
Donald Trump's decision met with remarkably little pushback in the Middle East, though with condemnation of the act by some governments. However, currently, Arab countries are preoccupied with the Syrian Civil War, the Yemeni Civil War and tensions with Iran. Saudi Arabia, once a strong supporter of the Palestine cause, seems to have shown less interest to react to the US move to shift the embassy.
Most of the countries that seek a peaceful solution to the Middle East situation want to see the international law and the UN resolutions implemented, that is East Jerusalem should remain an integral part of Palestine which should co-exist with an Israeli state
In the UK, His Majesty's Government confirmed that it is studying the feasibility of moving the embassy. The international community recognizes Jerusalem as the capital of Palestine and Israel. Almost every country that has diplomatic relations with the Jewish State has its capital in Tel Aviv which is the biggest city.
Miss Truss' Conservative Party is very Zionist. Most Conservative MPs are members of Conservative Friends of Israel (CFI). CFI organizes all expenses paid junkets to Israel for Conservative politicians. This no doubt sweetens the judgment of Tories.
The Labour Party is the opposition in the United Kingdom. Labour is more pro-Palestinian. But there is a Labour Friends of Israel organization. Jeremy Corbyn was the leader of the Labour Party and the most pro-Palestinian person in the UK Parliament. He was dogged by persistent allegations of anti-Semitism. His defenders say he was smeared by Zionists because they could not abide his advocacy of Palestinian liberty. Corbyn subsequently resigned as leader of the party. He has since had the whip withdrawn too.
British Muslims break heavily towards Labour. That is because most ethnic minorities are pro-Labour. Moreover, British Muslims are mostly young, urban and working class. These all predispose them towards Labour. Muslims form 5% of the populace.
The Jewish community in the UK is only 0.5% of the population. It is the wealthiest religious community in the United Kingdom per capita. British Jews are overwhelmingly Conservative. Despite their numbers, British Jews are very influential due to their tremendous contribution in many sectors. Zionism spreads well beyond the Jewish communion. Further, not all Jews are Zionist. Some are even anti-Zionist.
The author is a political analyst from the UK. He can be watched on YouTube: George from Ireland