“The UK position is clear: any unilateral moves toward annexation by Israel would be damaging to efforts to restart peace negotiations and contrary to international law,” said British Prime Minister Boris Johnson in response to a letter from Conservative MP Crispin Blunt and signed by 126 MPs against an Israeli law that would apply sovereignty to areas in the West Bank.
Johnson continued: “We firmly believe a just and lasting resolution that ends the occupation and delivers peace for both Israelis and Palestinians is long overdue. We will continue to press Israel and the Palestinians strongly on the need to refrain from taking actions which make peace more difficult.”
Over forty British Jewish figures have signed an ‘’’unprecedented’’ open letter to Israel’s Ambassador to the UK, Mark Regev, expressing their fears of the impact of annexation on Diaspora Jewry.
In the letter they wrote: “We proudly advocate for Israel but have been helped in doing so by Israel’s status as a liberal democracy, defending itself as necessary but committed to maintaining both its Jewish and democratic status. A policy of annexation would call that into question, polarising Jewish communities and increasing the divisive toxicity of debate within them, but also alienating large numbers of Diaspora Jews from engaging with Israel at all. Under these circumstances, the commitment to Israel that has been such a vital glue in sustaining and uniting Jewish communities, as well an asset for Israel, will decline.”
