UK Jews demand new right-wing Israel ambassador not be allowed to take office

Nearly 1,500 British Jews signed a petition calling on the Boris Johnson government to refuse the appointment of Israeli Minister of Settlement Affairs, Tzipi Hotovely, as Tel Aviv’s ambassador to London because she “has an appalling record of racist and inflammatory behaviour”.

Na’amod, an organisation which says it is “seeking to end our community’s support for the occupation”, set up the petition which said: “Tzipi Hotovely’s values and politics have no place in the UK. It is crucial that the UK government sends a message that her views are unacceptable, and rejects her nomination as ambassador.”

It added that Hotovely has previously publicly opposed relationships between Jews and Arabs, referred to Israeli human rights activists as “war criminals” and accused Palestinians of being “thieves of history” who have no heritage or connection to Israel-Palestine.

Hotovely has demonstrated a complete disregard for international law throughout her political career, and has an appalling record of racist and inflammatory behaviour.

Israel appointed Hotovely as its new ambassador to the UK last week, she is due to take over from Mark Regev later this summer.

Hotovely was appointed Israel’s deputy foreign minister in 2015. She has boasted at a conference in Jerusalem that, since taking up that post, she has transformed Israel’s Foreign Ministry into a bastion of the settler right, which is moving Israel towards annexation.

“All the territory that is west of the Jordan River can only be [held] by one nation: the Jewish people,” she said.

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