Veteran MP Emily Thornberry fuels concern over settler employed at UK's Tel Aviv embassy

Foreign affairs committee chairwoman says The National's revelations are 'shocking'

Kerem Reim settlement in Talmon, in the occupied West Bank. Photo: Yehudaasa

The UK government faces more pressure from veteran Labour MPs over revelations by The National that an employee at the British Embassy in Tel Aviv lives in an illegal settlement in the occupied West Bank.

Emily Thornberry, who chairs the Foreign Affairs Select Committee, told The National that the revelation was “shocking”.

“The government has taken a strong stance on settlements – though my committee has made it clear they should be doing more. So for a member of staff to be, on the face of it, in such flagrant breach is a matter of great concern and I will be asking questions about it,” Ms Thornberry added.

The settlement was built by an organisation that is sanctioned in the UK.

The British government has so far 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.

Emily Thornberry chairs the UK parliament's Foreign Affairs Select Committee. PA

The Foreign Affairs Select Committee scrutinises the government's foreign policy and has published a report on the Israel-Palestine conflict during Ms Thornberry's tenure as the group's chairwoman. It has called for a "comprehensive ban" on imports from illegal settlements in the West Bank.

Foreign Secretary Yvette Cooper warned that the Gaza ceasefire was "highly fragile" on Tuesday, as she called for more aid to enter the strip.

"Aid into Gaza is still a trickle rather than a flood," she told MPs. "We need all of the land crossings open – including the Rafah border with Egypt - with longer and consistent hours."

Ms Cooper called for the next phase of US President Donald Trump's peace plan to include Palestinian voices. "These transitional arrangements must be implemented in accordance with international law and respecting Palestinian sovereignty and self-determination," she said.

Ms Thornberry is the latest MP set to ask urgent questions of the government, after the SNP’s Chris Law and Labour’s John McDonnell submitted questions to the government last week.

Mr Law said the news “speaks to the lack of moral compass at the core of Westminster's Palestinian policy”.

“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.”

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 said Amana had “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 a 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 Thornberry said she will ask questions about the settler employed at the Tel Aviv embassy. House of Commons/PA Wire

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.”

Chris Doyle, director of the Council for Arab-British Understanding, called for a “full investigation”.

“Who knew about this and when? Settlements are a war crime and the UK supposedly opposes them. Are there embassy officials in settlements?”

A Foreign, Commonwealth and Development Office spokesperson said: “It is longstanding policy not to comment on the personal details of our staff.”