Current Conflict of Acknowledging Jerusalem as US Embassy Spot

By Morgan Hinckley

Currently, the United States has an Embassy in the bustling city of Tel Aviv. President Donald Trump is debatably expected to announce in the next week or so, that the Embassy is to be moved to Jerusalem. He was adamant about this move during his campaign, but has delayed the official move in June in hopes of a peaceful resolution. If President Trump and his advisors were to move Israel’s embassy, an expected increase of tensions will rise between the Israelis and the Palestinians. While keeping this peace in mind, President Trump and his advisors have started outlining a long-term strategy to make the eventual move to Jerusalem.

One of the more contentious questions that will need to be addressed by this move is whether President Trump will officially recognize Jerusalem as the capital of Israel. When an embassy moves location this can indicate that a territory is recognized as being in state’s sovereignty. If unknown the city of Jerusalem contains sites of religious significance to Christian, Jewish and Muslim religions. Multiple past presidents have refrained from making Jerusalem the center of the Israeli embassy because of the potential for “highly sensitive” and “potentially volatile” lash backs from surrounding countries. President Trump has not weighed in on this topic yet. However, President Trump and Vice President Mike Pence have both spoke in favor of the move.

Instead of having to pass a new law for the move of an embassy, President Trump would just have to let a six-month waiver expire. This Friday the waiver President Trump signed will expire, meaning that certain restrictions that were originally designed to force the embassy to move to Israel will come back. Specifically, the waiver would reduce the funds by half for the “Acquisition and Maintenance of Buildings Abroad” until the secretary of state determines that the U.S. Embassy in Jerusalem is open. Congress adopted legislation requiring the President to eventually recognize Jerusalem as a part of Israel. Most indicators of the past month suggested that President Trump was actually going to approve the waiver, extending the move for another 6 months. News sources reported this was to give some time for tensions to settle down in the area.

However, Several news outlets have recently reported a new policy change from President Trump. Many are now reporting that President Trump will let the waiver expire, and make an announcement that the Embassy is expected to move to Jerusalem. This abrupt change could move the embassy from Tel Aviv to Jerusalem in a matter of days if President Trump does not sign the waiver.

References

Andrew Restuccia and Eliana Johnson, Trump inches toward moving U.S. Embassy to Jerusalem, Politico (Nov. 30, 2017), available at https://www.politico.com/story/2017/11/30/trump-us-embassy-move-jerusalem-271764 (last visited Dec. 3, 2017).

Scott R. Anderson and Yishai Schwartz, How to Move the U.S. Embassy to Jerusalem, ForeignPolicy.com (Nov. 30, 2017), available at http://foreignpolicy.com/2017/11/30/how-to-move-the-u-s-embassy-to-jerusalem/ (last visited Dec. 3, 2017).