We are getting reports out of Israel that Trump could announce next week that we are moving our embassy in Tel Aviv to Israel’s capital, Jerusalem: JPOST – US President Donald Trump may formally recognize Jerusalem as Israel’s capital early next week and direct his staff to prepare for moving the embassy to Jerusalem, Channel 2 News reported Wednesday night. The report, to which there was no immediate confirmation, followed a speech US Vice President Mike Pence gave a day earlier in which he said that Trump was “actively considering” the step.
“While for the past 20 years, Congress and successive administrations have expressed a willingness to move our embassy, as we speak, President Donald Trump is actively considering when and how to move the American Embassy in Israel from Tel Aviv to Jerusalem,” Pence said at an event celebrating the 70th anniversary of the UN vote on the Partition Plan.
According to the television report, Trump does not want to once again sign a waiver – which he did on June 1 and which is up for renewal every six months – blocking implementation of a law passed by Congress in 1995 mandating that the embassy be moved.
Trump pledged repeatedly during his campaign to move the US embassy from Tel Aviv to Jerusalem. After Trump signed the waiver in June, various administration officials said moving the embassy was a matter of “when, not if.”
The Palestinians, as well as some Arab leaders and top US officials, have warned that such a move would trigger an uproar and violent unrest in the territories and in Arab capitals that could ruin current US efforts to push the diplomatic process forward.
I know Pence said they were actively considering doing this and I really hope it’s true and it finally happens. It would be a welcome gesture in Israel on the 70th year of their formal statehood. If it does happen, it would also mean that Trump is done with the futile exercise of trying to negotiate peace with the Palestinians, which would also be a welcome sight.
I guess we’ll find out soon enough.
