Petition to Expel Israeli Ambassador from UK Nears 200,000 Signatures, Who Is Tzipi Hotovely?

London (Quds News Network)- A petition calling for the expulsion of the Israeli Ambassador to the UK has garnered nearly 200,000 signatures. Ambassador Tzipi Hotovely has previously referred to the Nakba, the ethnic cleansing of Palestine by Zionist militias to make way for the creation of Israel in 1948, as an “Arab lie.”

The petition has attracted 189,066 verified signatures.

The petition was first started in December 2023 by Dr. Asim Suleman, who said the “presence and influence” of the ambassador could lead to the “potential radicalisation of our UK population”.

The petition reads: “As a citizen who values peace, unity, and respect for all, I find it alarming that an ambassador could potentially incite division and extremism within our society.”

Who is Tzipi Hotovely?

Hotovely’s appointment as ambassador to the UK in 2020 caused controversy, with almost 2,000 British Jews signing a petition organised by Na’amod calling on the UK government to reject the appointment.

Hotovely is a former Israeli settlement affairs minister, a proud supporter of Israeli settler colonialism, and an open advocate of a ‘Greater Israel’, claiming that “all the territory that is west of Jordan River can only be [held] by one nation: the Jewish people”.

In a 2015 speech on her appointment as deputy foreign minister, she rejected a two-state solution, saying: “This land is ours. All of it is ours. We did not come here to apologise for that.”

As Settlements Minister in 2020, she was directly involved in the continued dispossession of Palestinians and annexation of Palestinian land in the occupied territories. She also called the occupation of the West Bank ‘a myth’.

Hotovely has repeatedly sought to erase the history and existence of Palestinians: describing them as “thieves of history” and without a history.

In 2020, she said she hoped that the UK would relocate its embassy from Tel Aviv to Jerusalem, after the US embassy was relocated in May 2018, describing this move as a “good role model.”

“The whole myth of making the Middle East a dangerous place by moving the embassy to Jerusalem is just not correct. Look at the reality: The Middle East was never more flourishing in terms of peace agreements,” she said.

Hotovely also questioned the UK Foreign Office’s use of the term, “Occupied Palestinian Territories.” Such statements, she said, “don’t reflect reality.”

“Settlements are legal according to international law. This is the Israeli policy about it; this is the Foreign Ministry’s interpretation of international law,” said Hotovely, dismissing the fact that settlements are in breach of international law.

In 2021, during a ceremony celebrating the 100th anniversary of the Balfour Declaration, which signalled British support for the creation of the occupation state of Israel, Hotovely claimed the occupation state gives equal rights to both Palestinians and Israelis.

In December 2020, Hotovely appeared at an online event hosted by the Board of Deputies (BoD), the UK’s main Jewish community organisation, where she described the Nakba as a “very popular Arab lie” and a “made up story”.

According to Declassified UK, unlike her predecessors, Hotovely is not a diplomat. She is a hard-right politician, a loyal ally of Israeli prime minister Benjamin Netanyahu, “who has served for the past 20 months as the leading apologist and cheerleader for genocide on British soil.”

Her constant incitement has been in flagrant violation of the 1948 Genocide Convention to which the UK is a signatory, Declassified UK reported, adding the “UK is effectively sheltering a war crimes suspect.”

In May 2025, when she appeared on the popular online chat show Piers Morgan Uncensored, she asserted in defiance of international law that Israel was “allowed to attack hospitals” in Gaza.

In late 2023, she claimed Jews “don’t feel safe” on London’s streets because of the large marches against Israel’s genocide in Gaza: “They [British Jews] see the same jihadi ideology on the streets of London as in Gaza.”

There have been previous calls for the expulsion of the Israeli ambassador from the UK.

Independent MP John McDonnell said: “We have an Israeli ambassador who’s an advocate of Greater Israel, refuses to recognize the Palestinian state, defies all the UN resolutions that have been passed about how we can secure that peace, and she still remains in this country. Why aren’t we expelling the Israeli ambassador?”

Zarah Sultana, an MP sitting as an independent after she was expelled from the Labour party, also called for Hotovely’s expulsion, pointing to her “genocidal rhetoric”.