Get Information For Visa From UK Embassies

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By: Tarun Jaswani

The Israeli Embassy to the United Kingdom is situated at 2 Palace Green (consular entrance at 15a Old Court Place), in the London Borough of Kensington and Chelsea. It is the only diplomatic building of Israel in the United Kingdom. The building hosts the embassy and consular departments, as well as the defence attach, and cultural departments.

Like all Israeli Embassies around the world, security around the London Embassy is extremely tight, with concrete blocks around the perimeter, and a full time armed police presence. Cars are not permitted to drive past the embassy. Although pedestrians can walk past the embassy on the other side of the road, it is forbidden to photograph outside the perimeter.

The street the embassy is on faces Kensington Palace, and is blocked off by barriers and police patrols, making it one of the most secure streets in London. The embassy has been a target of both terrorists, and anti Israeli protests.

Israeli diplomats and diplomatic posts have been a constant target for Palestinian and Arab terrorists, as well as their sympathisers. The UK embassy building and its staff have been attacked on numerous occasions.

On September 19, 1972, a letter bomb delivered to the embassy exploded, killing an Israeli diplomat. Seven other bombs were either not delivered, or detected. Terrorist group Black September were thought to be responsible. The Israeli Ambassador to the UK, Shlomo Argov was shot and seriously injured on June 3, 1982 by two Jordanian terrorists.

The incident led to the Israeli invasion of Lebanon. The UK is a constitutional monarchy with Queen Elizabeth II as the head of state. The Channel Islands and the Isle of Man are Crown Dependencies and not part of the UK, but form a federacy with it.

The UK has fourteen overseas territories, all remnants of the British Empire, which at its height encompassed almost a quarter of the world's land surface, the largest empire in history. British influence can continue to be observed in the language, culture and legal systems of many of its former colonies.

Queen Elizabeth II remains the head of the Commonwealth of Nations and head of state of each of the Commonwealth realms. The Israeli Embassy to the United Kingdom is situated at 2 Palace Green (consular entrance at 15a Old Court Place), in the London Borough of Kensington and Chelsea.

It is the only diplomatic building of Israel in the United Kingdom. Like all Israeli Embassies around the world, security around the London Embassy is extremely tight, with concrete blocks around the perimeter, and a full time armed police presence.

Cars are not permitted to drive past the embassy. Although pedestrians can walk past the embassy on the other side of the road, it is forbidden to photograph outside the perimeter. The street the embassy is on faces Kensington Palace, and is blocked off by barriers and police patrols, making it one of the most secure streets in London.

The UK is a developed country, with the fifth (nominal GDP) or sixth largest economy in the world. It was the world's first industrialised country and the world's foremost power during the 19th and early 20th centuries, but the economic cost of two world wars and the decline of its empire in the latter half of the 20th century diminished its leading role in global affairs.

The UK nevertheless remains a major power with strong economic, cultural, military and political influence and is a nuclear power, with the second highest defence spending in the world. It is a Member State of the European Union, holds a permanent seat on the United Nations Security Council, and is a member of the G8, NATO, Organisation for Economic Co-operation and Development, World Trade Organization and the Commonwealth of Nations.

The United Kingdom does not have a single legal system due to it being created by the political union of previously independent countries with Article 19 of the Treaty of Union guaranteeing the continued existence of Scotland's separate legal system.Today the UK has three distinct systems of law: English law, Northern Ireland law and Scots law.

Recent constitutional changes will see a new Supreme Court of the United Kingdom come into being in October 2009 that will take on the appeal functions of the Appellate Committee of the House of Lords. The Judicial Committee of the Privy Council, comprising the same members as the Appellate Committee of the House of Lords, is the highest court of appeal for several independent Commonwealth countries, the UK overseas territories, and the British crown dependencies.