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.
Israel’s Channel 2 news has quoted an unnamed “senior” US official as having promised that 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.”
Trump won’t last until 2020, so that means they’d better speed things up on the relocation of the U.S. Embassy to Jerusalem if it is to be accomplished before the end of Trump’s term in office.