Lord Levy is wrong

His arguments against moving the UK embassy to Jerusalem will aid Israel's foes

Abraham Accords signing ceremony, 2020

In Jerusalem on Friday, Anglo jaws collectively dropped to the floor upon reading an opinion piece by Lord Levy in that morning’s Times (£). 

For those unaware of Michael Levy, he is a British Jewish philanthropist and long-standing member of the Labour party, whose stellar fund-raising efforts earned him a peerage bestowed by Labour’s former leader (and Levy’s former tennis partner) Sir Tony Blair.

For those unaware of what Levy wrote, here are the salient passages: 

Liz Truss is considering relocating the British embassy in Israel from Tel Aviv to Jerusalem…

When President Trump decided to move the US embassy to Jerusalem in 2017, Theresa May’s government…affirmed that Britain had no plans to follow suit, holding to the longstanding principle of Jerusalem’s status needing to be determined in a negotiated settlement… Trump’s relocation has been emulated only by Guatemala, Kosovo and Honduras.

Today’s realities are even more precarious and unstable, and pouring fuel on the fire is highly irresponsible. Ask yourself, “How does this benefit Britain in the world?” and you are more than likely to come up empty-handed…

All Arab ambassadors, including those representing states that have normalised relations with Israel, have expressed their opposition. British businesses depending on exports to or inward investments from the Gulf will be wary. British national security assets, personnel and interests may be put at risk. Is that a position in which the UK should put itself, especially during the Ukraine crisis?

Britain cannot both assert the primacy of international legality, the UN charter, the inadmissibility of territorial acquisition and annexation by force, and simultaneously undermine those principles…

I would also suggest this proposal is something British Jews would be unwise to support. The heads of the youth movements have strongly denounced the move. They are the future leadership of the Jewish community and should be listened to carefully. It could be highly detrimental for inter-communal and interfaith relations here at home.

Jerusalem and peace are too important to fall prey to petty and ephemeral political calculations or culture wars. A Trump-style UK relocation would be bad for peace, bad for British national interests and bad for the Jewish community.

I set out here my own views on the proposed relocation of the UK embassy. But let’s go through Levy’s arguments, every single one of which is misguided, ill-judged or flat-out wrong.