A British Foreign Office minister for the Middle East, Tobias Ellwood, said in a statement: “As a longstanding friend of Israel, I condemn the passing of the Land Regularization Bill by the Knesset, which damages Israel’s standing with its international partners.”
Ellwood’s comments came less than 24 hours after a meeting in London between Israel’s Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu and British premier Theresa May. A government statement following the meeting said the U.K.’s position on the settlement issue had not changed.
“The prime minister reiterated the U.K.’s opposition to settlement activity,” it read. U.K.-Israel relations were shaken recently by the May government's condemnation of Israel's settlement policies and by a scandal caused after an Israeli embassy official was secretly filmed plotting against some British politicians.