Published: 1 November 2022
Last updated: 5 March 2024
Sunak is expected to continue a line of Conservative politicians who are staunchly pro-Israel and hawkish on its enemies in the region.
JTA - The past few years have been tumultuous at 10 Downing Street, the London residence of the British prime minister. Last week, Liz Truss, who lasted just over six weeks in the role, became the third prime minister to resign since 2019.
But the succession of Conservative Party leaders has kept some things steady: they have all had strong ties with mainstream British Jewry and professed a Right-leaning foreign policy that is staunchly pro-Israel and hawkish on its enemies in the region.
Sunak, a former treasury secretary and the UK’s first person of colour to assume the role when he was elected by his party on Monday, continues that trend.
In fact, Sunak has shown a willingness to discuss moving Britain’s Israeli embassy to Jerusalem — a move that has historically been shunned across the UK’s political spectrum, including by Conservatives.
Speaking at a Conservative Friends of Israel event in August, he said there is a “very strong case” for the move, which would imply the UK’s recognition of Jerusalem as Israel’s capital. Although former US President Donald Trump’s administration moved the US embassy to Jerusalem and inspired other countries to follow suit, much of the international foreign policy establishment argues that the shift disrupts the Israeli-Palestinian peace process and hinders the eventuality of a Palestinian state.
Sunak admitted that he would face strong opposition to an embassy move from within and beyond his own party. After Truss’s economic policies worsened an already ballooning inflation crisis, Sunak will likely first look to tackle domestic concerns in the early part of his tenure.
He seems to belong to a new generation of Conservative Party leaders who have shown themselves willing to diverge with the decades-long policies of the British foreign office, which is widely perceived to favour keeping Israel at arm’s length not to anger the Arab World. Prince William ended what was perceived as a decades-long unofficial boycott on official visits to Israel by senior members of the British Royal House in 2018. The government of Theresa May, predecessor to Boris Johnson, had a central role in facilitating the visit.
