Politics
Fury after British consulate in Jerusalem changes address to ‘Palestine’
France made a similar move, while Canada even extended the ‘Palestine’ address to its embassy in Tel Aviv
September 25, 2025 09:31
France made a similar move, while Canada even extended the ‘Palestine’ address to its embassy in Tel Aviv
September 25, 2025 09:31The Foreign Office is facing outrage after the British Consulate General in Jerusalem changed the address on its website to "Palestine".
While previously the address had simply stated that the consulate was in East Jerusalem, this was modified earlier this week to add “Palestine” at the bottom.
The main page for the consulate also had a “location” section added, listing it as located in Palestine.
The change was made in the wake of the UK government formalising its recognition of a Palestinian state over the weekend.
And the address was later changed to avoid reference to either state after a flurry of criticism.
Alex Hearn, director of Labour Against Antisemitism, said: "On the Jewish new year, the UK government erased Israel's capital - including Judaism's holiest site - changing it to Palestine."
Likewise, journalist and JC columnist Nicole Lampert tweeted: “Yesterday, as Jews were praying towards Jerusalem on one of our holiest days as our ancestors have for 2000 years, the British consulate in Jerusalem changed its address to ‘Jerusalem, Palestine’.
“After an online fuss - just because the British government says it recognises Jerusalem is in Palestine doesn’t mean it actually exists - the entire address vanished from its website. It no longer knows where it is.”
Similar backlash was also sparked when France changed the address of its consulate in West Jerusalem, which is part of Israel under the 1967 borders favoured by proponents of the two-state solution, to list it in Palestine.
Hearn claimed the move had "shades of the Sykes-Picot Agreement" - a treaty struck in secret between the UK and France in 1916 setting out the borders for a future partition of the Ottoman Empire.
And Canada even changed the address of its embassy in Tel Aviv, on the opposite side of the country to Jerusalem and long recognised by Ottawa as Israel’s capital, to read “Tel Aviv, Israel, Palestine”.
“This geographically incoherent address is a political statement, showing they have decided all of Israel is Palestine ‘from the river to the sea’,” added Hearn.
A Foreign Office spokesperson said: “ The longstanding position of the UK government is that Jerusalem should be a shared capital of two states, with a final determination of its status made as part of a negotiated, peaceful settlement between Israelis and Palestinians, with access and religious rights of all peoples respected. This has not changed.”
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