OPINION: Israel won’t top Truss’ in-tray, but there’s plenty of opportunity to further ties
James Gurd, executive director of Conservative Friends of Israel, hopes to see an upgraded free trade agreement between the UK and the Jewish state within 18 months.
After a summer of waiting, the UK finally got to meet its new Prime Minister this week.
While the lengthy, heated Conservative leadership contest was marked by some big ideological and policy disagreements, there was one area where the candidates agreed throughout. Support for Israel and the UK’s Jewish community was front and centre and proudly celebrated.
CFI was delighted to be able to host both Liz Truss and Rishi Sunak for memorable husting events with our supporters, and both candidates also penned personal letters to outline their plans to deepen the UK-Israel relationship. Collectively, these ended up reaching thousands of Party members and showcased the depth of feeling towards the Jewish State.
We send the warmest congratulations to Liz Truss in becoming Prime Minister. The UK-Israel relationship is currently enjoying a golden era and it is deeply heartening to know that Prime Minister Liz Truss will take this yet further still.
Liz Truss enters No10 following a memorable stint in the Foreign Office where she prioritised strengthening the UK-Israel relationship. From identifying Israel as an integral member of her envisioned “network of liberty” through to leading efforts to challenge – often against the advice of her own officials – bias against Israel in international forums. She also led the world – in the pages of this newspaper – in condemning Iraq’s Parliament passing deplorable legislation imposing a death penalty on any Iraqi engaging with an Israeli.
Liz’s support is clearly valued in Israel. It came up in many of the meetings we had in Israel last week during CFI’s latest parliamentary delegation. Her strong stance towards Iran and her historic campaign pledge to review the location of the British Embassy have achieved cut through.
There has been great warmth in the congratulatory messages coming from Israel. Her counterpart Yair Lapid heralded a “true friend of Israel”. The two Prime Ministers had already struck up a warm friendship while overlapping as Foreign Ministers, which included the signing of the ground-breaking ten-year strategic plan which will bring the countries ever closer in the fields of cyber and tech. Prime Minister Truss told CFI’s supporters during the leadership contest that she had discussed the location of the British Embassy with Mr Lapid.
The Prime Minister arrives with a full in tray. At home, great focus will be urgently devoted to tackling high energy prices, steadying the economy and tackling NHS backlogs while on the international stage, challenging President Putin’s invasion of Ukraine will remain a priority, as well as responding to China’s destabilising actions.
But there will also be opportunities relating to Israel and the UK’s Jewish community. The starter pistol has been fired on negotiations for a UK-Israel trade deal worth billions of pounds with high hopes that an agreement can be reached within 12-18 months. The much anticipated BDS bill is on the legislative agenda. Commitments to continue funding to the CST, combat antisemitism and complete the National Holocaust Memorial have also been made.
Iran looms larger than ever. The new Prime Minister is under no illusion about the threat posed by the fundamentalist regime in Tehran. She has repeatedly committed to preventing Iran from acquiring a nuclear weapon. The possibility of a renewed JCPOA deal, following exhaustive back and forth negotiations, will certainly be no panacea to this threat.
There are growing calls by MPs of all stripes for the UK to proscribe the Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps – the mastermind and enabler of Iran’s stable of poisonous terror proxies. This would be an enormously significant moment in countering Iran’s hegemonic ambitions.
Her choice of Foreign Secretary, James Cleverly, is welcome. With several years of experience under his belt as a former Middle East Minister, James is well versed in the issues and ideally placed to drive the bilateral forward.
The many pressing issues facing the UK, as well as the wider international community, are significant. But there are enormous opportunities on the near horizon.
- James Gurd is executive director of Conservative Friends of Israel
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