UK, US and EU shamefully condemn Israel for allowing Jews to build in their homeland

The United Kingdom has joined several other countries in condemning Israel for its proposal to legalise Jewish towns within Judea and Samaria (the West Bank).

The Israeli government announced it was planning on allowing new houses to be built in nine Jewish communities in Judea and Samaria.

We need to point out that the international community largely sees any Israeli activity in Judea and Samaria as being “illegal” and they use “international law” to back this up. Regardless of whether this is accurate or not. To be clear, this means that the majority of the Jewish people’s holy sites, including the Temple Mount, Mount of Olives, Tomb of the Patriarchs and most of Jerusalem’s historic sites, are deemed as being “illegally occupied” by Israel.

The reality is that, according to international law, this area is not “Palestine” as some claim, but disputed territories to which Israel has more of a legal claim than the Palestinians. Israel’s rights are backed up by international law, including the United Nations charter.

Additionally, the Bible is clear that the land of Israel, including Judea and Samara, was given to the Jewish people by God more than 3,000 years ago. Everywhere in Judea and Samaria where they start to dig they find Jewish history and Biblical history. Yet, the lie has been spread that Jews are “illegal occupiers” and “settlers” of their own land.

Shamefully, our government has fallen for this falsehood.

The UK, US, Germany, France and Italy issued a joint statement on Tuesday saying: “We are deeply troubled by the Israeli government’s announcement that it is advancing nearly 10,000 settlement units and intends to begin a process to normalise nine outposts that were previously deemed illegal under Israeli law.”

“We strongly oppose these unilateral actions which will only serve to exacerbate tensions between Israelis and Palestinians and undermine efforts to achieve a negotiated two-state solution,” the statement added.

The Israeli government has not responded to this statement and it seems they have no intention of doing so. The Palestinians predictably welcomed the statement and called Israel’s actions a “disdain for international law”, which is rich when the PA routinely flouts “international law” such as funding terrorist attacks against Israeli civilians.

It is important to note that Israel is yet to pass this law. They have noted their intention to pass it and there is now a legal and political battle within Israel as to whether this can happen or not. CUFI UK is non-partisan in Israeli politics and we completely support the will of the Israeli people in this matter. It is up to them to decide. No country should be dictating to Jews that they cannot build in their homeland.

As for UK politics, we are disappointed that once again the British government is condemning Israel and going against God’s Biblical commandments. The Jewish people were given the land of Israel by God as written in the Bible. As Christians, we believe it is foolish to go against God and we are deeply troubled whenever British foreign policy contradicts God.