Jerusalem – Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu took a step back on Thursday from comments, challenged by U.S. President Donald Trump, that envisioned a one-year timeframe for the planned relocation of the U.S. Embassy in Israel to Jerusalem.
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An official in Netanyahu’s office said the prime minister recognized that construction of a new embassy will take years but believes Washington is considering “interim measures that could result in an embassy opening much faster”.
The official, who declined to be named, did not define those steps or mention any dates for a Jerusalem embassy to begin operating. In the past, Israeli media have speculated that, before a building is ready, the U.S. ambassador would operate part of the time out of a temporary location in Jerusalem.
Reversing decades of U.S. policy, Trump in early December recognized Jerusalem as Israel’s capital and set in motion the process of moving the embassy from Tel Aviv, imperiling Middle East peace efforts and upsetting the Arab world and Western allies alike.
Netanyahu, according to Israeli reporters traveling with him on a trip to India, said on Wednesday: “My solid assessment is that it will go much faster than you think – within a year from now.”
Asked about Netanyahu’s comment, Trump told Reuters in an interview that was not the case. “By the end of the year? We’re talking about different scenarios – I mean obviously that would be on a temporary basis. We’re not really looking at that. That’s no.”
The Israeli official, responding to Trump’s remarks, said: “The president and the prime minister are not saying anything different”.
U.S. Secretary of State Rex Tillerson said last month the embassy move was “probably no earlier than three years out, and that’s pretty ambitious”, a timeframe that administration officials have attributed to the logistics of finding and securing a site as well as arranging housing for diplomats.
Jerusalem is home to sites holy to the Muslim, Jewish and Christian religions. The Palestinians want East Jerusalem, which Israel captured in the 1967 Arab-Israeli war and annexed in a move not recognized internationally, as the capital of their future state.
Mr. Netanyahu, as much as you’d like to deliver, though I suggest you don’t start with Mr Trump, as he knows how to look after himself, he’s not like his predecessor,
Mind your back
It is another kick the can to the next president. All they have to do is reverse the buildings that Tel Aviv becomes the Consulate, and the Consulate in Jerusalem becomes the Embassy, with a little up dating, Voila! I have done it with a strike of my computer keys. What did the Ruler say, I have said it, I have written it and it is done.
you can move the embassy in about 5 minutes. the consulate in Jerusalem can have its plaque taken down and replaced with ’embassy’. which part of the above doesn’t el trumpo not understand. worried about security? take an hour to add more cement blocks around the building, and install sniper on adjacent roofs for any trouble. the truth be told, trump lies and lies and lies. jimmy kimmel counted 2,000 lies this past year. what a shmegegi we have for a president. feh !
Go Trump!