A long-time employee of the UK’s embassy in Tel Aviv owns property in a settlement considered illegal under international law in the occupied West Bank that was built by an organisation now sanctioned by the British government.

Gila Ben-Yakov Phillips, who has worked at the embassy for 16 years, has owned a property in Kerem Reim since 2022, official records show. The settlement, part of a broader area known as Talmon, is a project of Amana, a settler organisation the UK placed under sanctions in 2024.

Amana’s website advertises properties on Kerem Reim starting from about $550,000, lauding “its excellent location … approximately 50 minutes from Jerusalem and Tel Aviv”.

A 2024 press release announcing the sanctions against Amana 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”.

Lior Amihai, director of Israeli settlements 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.”

The Kerem Reim settlement is part of a broader area known as Talmon, in the occupied West Bank. Photo: Yehudaasa

Dror Etkes, founder of Israeli civil society organisation Kerem Navot, which researches settlements in the West Bank, said: “It seems surprising that the British government is paying the salary of someone who is living in a house that was built by a company that belongs to an association which the ministry is sanctioning.”

A representative for the British Foreign, Commonwealth and Development 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