Report: US Official Promises Israeli Embassy Move by End of Trump’s Term

Sheldon Adelson 'Furious' at Tillerson Over Delay

Israel’s Channel 2 news has quoted an unnamed “senior” US official ass having promised tat the US Embassy in Israel will be relocated by the end of President Trump’s term in office in 2020, but that it “will not happen immediately.

The unnamed official also reported called for Israeli MPs to stop pressing for an immediate move of the US Embassy, saying such moves damage the chances of it happening. The embassy is in Tel Aviv at present, and Trump has promised to move it to Jerusalem.

The US Congress has mandated such a relocation too, and has since 1995, though the Jerusalem Embassy Act has allowed presidents to pass waivers to delay the move, waivers which have been in effect ever since, citing national security interests.

Secretary of State Rex Tillerson has suggested in recent comments that Trump is being careful about the embassy move for fear it would hurt his attempts at restarting the peace process. Major GOP donor Sheldon Adelson, who also heavily bankrolls the Israeli right-wing, is said to be “furious” at Tillerson for saying that.

The Israeli government has long demanded the embassy move, with Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu insisting that moving the embassy to Jerusalem, endorsing it as “eternally” part of Israel, would somehow improve the peace process by lowering Palestinian expectations.

Author: Jason Ditz

Jason Ditz is Senior Editor for Antiwar.com. He has 20 years of experience in foreign policy research and his work has appeared in The American Conservative, Responsible Statecraft, Forbes, Toronto Star, Minneapolis Star-Tribune, Providence Journal, Washington Times, and the Detroit Free Press.