Westminster MPs are to demand answers from the British government this week following The National’s revelation that a senior Israeli employee of the UK’s embassy in Tel Aviv owns property in a settlement considered illegal under international law in the occupied West Bank.
The discovery raised cross-party concern but the government has offered no explanation as to how the employee, who has worked at the British embassy in Israel for 16 years, was allowed to buy property on the illegal outpost of Kerem Reim and promote it on social media.
London’s silence on the matter has called into question the seriousness of Britain’s commitment to backing Palestinian territorial rights, with one MP saying the scandal “speaks to the lack of moral compass at the core of Westminster's Palestinian policy”.
Chris Law, MP for Dundee Central, added: “If the UK government are to be taken seriously on their pledges around illegal settlements in the West Bank, then they must take action to ensure that embassy staff are not actively contributing to the deteriorating situation there.”
Mr Law, of the Scottish National Party, and Labour politician John McDonnell have submitted written questions to the UK Foreign Office, asking for an inquiry into the matter and for the government to clarify its position on hiring Israeli staff who live in the occupied Palestinian territory.
The scandal centres on Gila Ben-Yakov Phillips, who serves as the embassy’s deputy head of corporate services and HR manager, according to her LinkedIn profile. She has owned property in Kerem Reim since 2022 and also does so in another settlement, Etz Ephraim, official records show. Kerem Reim, part of a broader area known as Talmon, is a project of Amana, a settler organisation that the UK placed under sanctions last year.
A UK government press release announcing the sanctions on Amana at the time said the organisation “has overseen the establishment of illegal outposts, and provides funding and other economic resources for Israeli settlers involved in threatening and perpetrating acts of aggression and violence against Palestinian communities in the West Bank”.
When asked about the revelation, a representative for the Foreign Office said: “It is long-standing policy not to comment on the personal details of our staff”. Ms Ben-Yakov Phillips did not respond to a request for comment.
More than 85 per cent of Talmon’s residents voted for the far-right Religious Zionist Party in the last Israeli elections. The party is led by Finance Minister Bezalel Smotrich, who has been the subject of UK sanctions since June for “repeated incitements of violence against Palestinian communities”, including statement last year that “it might be justified and moral” to starve two million people in Gaza.
The ultranationalist minister attended an event in support of Kerem Reim in July, at which Amana head Ze’ev Hever was also present.
Ms Ben-Yakov Phillips posted promotional material for Kerem Reim and Etz Ephraim while employed at the embassy. The posts were publicly visible for years but have now been taken down.
One post from 2023 called for childcare workers to take advantage of discounted accommodation in “a young settlement, growing with a warm and loving community”. Another advertised youth programmes. A third post, from 2018, asked for donations for a new synagogue in Etz Ephraim.
Lior Amihai, director of Israeli settlement monitor Peace Now, said Amana “played a key role in establishing” Kerem Reim. “Kerem Reim didn’t just appear on a hilltop – it was established in violation of both international law and, initially, Israeli law,” he said. “Like other settlements and outposts, it was placed to fracture Palestinian land and block any realistic path to a viable Palestinian state.”
