Thread: President Trump Anticipated To Follow Through on 1995 Jerusalem Embassy Act

President Trump Anticipated To Follow-Through on 1995 Jerusalem Embassy Act…

Posted on December 5, 2017 by sundance


The TDS-media are fraught with misinformation on this issue.


In 1995, Congress passed the Jerusalem Embassy Act, requiring the movement of the American Embassy from Tel Aviv to Jerusalem. The act said that Jerusalem should be undivided and be recognized as the capital of Israel. The legislation passed 93-5 in the Senate, and 374-37 in the House of Representatives. (link)







Following passage, all subsequent Presidents’ never carried through with the law; each signing national security waivers to delay moving the U.S. Embassy.


The most recent waiver lapsed at midnight last night; President Trump did not extend another waiver. It is now reported that President Trump has been in discussions with various mid-east leaders to notify them of his plan to follow through on the Jerusalem Embassy Act with a six month phase-in. President Trump will deliver a speech tomorrow outlining the plans.


Ironically, the opposition to President Trump is now claiming such a move will undermine his efforts at negotiating a peace-resolution between Israel and their Arab neighbors. The irony stems from those same voices claiming for a year that any Trump effort to negotiate a peace-deal was an exercise in futility. How can President Trump derail a peace-plan those same voices previously claimed never existed? See the pretzel-logic?

WASHINGTON/JERUSALEM (Reuters) – President Donald Trump told Arab leaders on Tuesday that he intends to move the U.S. embassy in Israel to Jerusalem, a decision that breaks with decades of U.S. policy and risks fueling violence in the Middle East.


Senior U.S. officials have said Trump is likely on Wednesday to recognize Jerusalem as Israel’s capital while delaying relocating the embassy from Tel Aviv for another six months, though he is expected to order his aides to begin planning such a move immediately.

U.S. endorsement of Israel’s claim to all of Jerusalem as its capital would reverse long-standing U.S. policy that the city’s status must be decided in negotiations with the Palestinians, who want East Jerusalem as the capital of their future state. The international community does not recognize Israeli sovereignty over the entire city, home to sites holy to the Muslim, Jewish and Christian religions.


Palestinian President Mahmoud Abbas, Jordan’s King Abdullah, Egyptian President Abdel Fattah al-Sisi and Saudi Arabia’s King Salman, who all received phone calls from Trump, joined a mounting chorus of voices warning that unilateral U.S. steps on Jerusalem would derail a fledgling U.S.-led peace effort and unleash turmoil in the region. (read more)

Remember an important aspect to international policy and engagement on this issue: ‘Each of the aforementioned voices has a domestic audience‘. There is no doubt prior to this decision the primary members of the peace coalition held lengthy discussions on the topic. Each would know it was a matter of when, not if, President Trump was going to fulfill this important campaign promise; accurate communication is one of President Trump’s strongest attributes.


Only President Trump is confident and strong enough to withstand the potential backlash. Never forget what President Fattah Abdel al-Sisi previously shared about his view on the new dynamic President Trump brings to the region.


In the final analysis, the overarching trait that all players respect is ‘strength’. However, President Trump is not approaching the move from a position of disrespecting the concerns of the partners.

[…] But U.S. officials, speaking on condition of anonymity, said Trump was expected to sign a national security waiver – as have his predecessors – keeping the embassy in Tel Aviv for another six months but would commit to expediting a move. It was unclear, however, whether he would set a date.


The Trump administration would need time to overcome logistical issues such as lack of a secure embassy building and staff housing in Jerusalem, according to one U.S. official. (more)

https://theconservativetreehouse.com/2017/12/05/president-trump-anticipated-to-follow-through-on-1995-jerusalem-embas

I'm not clear at all on why we even have this dispute/issue to begin with. Israel determines its capital, not the US. The purpose of an embassy is to be near the government of the host country, which in Israel, is in Jerusalem. I don't agree with everything Israel has done with regards to the Palestinians or others for that matter. But they are our ally, they are a nation, their capital for government purposes is in Jerusalem, and we need to have our Embassy in their capital, like we do in every other nation in the world where we have an embassy. Stop the double-standard. If it impedes "peace" or causes violence, we'll take the appropriate steps to end the violence and continue working on peace in the region. Trump is ticking off a list of problems to be solved and issues to be resolved. Just do it and scratch this silly one off the list of contrived controversies.

They are our ally, we can support them in PRAYER, NOT MONEY

They need to solve their own problems

And WE need to stop GIVING them 8 BILLION a year of OUR money

They built their WALL off our BACKS

We have NO WALL

Cut off the money!

Do we give them 8 BILLION for another 100 YEARS? NO!


Go buy Puerto Rico...take it over with YOUR money and be our ally there!

Hallelujah! Trump Will Recognize Jerusalem as Capital of Israel Wednesday, Begin Moving Embassy

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Thomas Coex / AFP / Getty

by MICHELLE MOONS5 Dec 2017Washington, DC


President Donald Trump will announce Wednesday that the United States recognizes Jerusalem as the capital of Israel, and that the State Department will begin a process to move the U.S. embassy in Israel to Jerusalem.

Trump will first announce that the “United States government recognizes that Jerusalem is the capital of Israel,” according to one of three senior administration officials who spoke with reporters on Tuesday.
The officials conveyed that the change is a recognition of “reality” — both the historic reality that Jerusalem has been the capital of the Jewish people and the Jewish faith since ancient times; and the modern reality that the city is the seat of government for Israel, housing its legislature, supreme court, prime minister, and executive agencies.


Second, Trump will direct the State Department to begin the process of moving the U.S. embassy from Tel Aviv to Jerusalem. One official explained that the directive to the State Department requires it to develop a plan for this “with a minimum additional burden on taxpayers.” It was noted that there are approximately 1,000 personnel in Tel Aviv, and that it would take some time to find an appropriate site in Jerusalem. One official stated that despite hopes for an immediate move, it was a “practical impossibility to move the embassy tomorrow.”


“It will take some time to find a site, address security concerns, design a new facility, fund a new facility…[and] build it,” said one of the senior officials.


The official went on to address the issue of the semi-annual presidential waiver that has allowed presidents to delay moving the embassy over the past 22 years and several administrations of both parties. The deadline to sign the waiver passed on Monday night; however, the official stated that President Trump will sign a new waiver as the process begins to move the embassy “in order to avoid fairly significant cuts to State Department’s funding that the law requires as a consequence.” One official stated that Trump will sign the waiver each six months until the embassy is opened.

Officials emphasized that the President would not specify a timeline for completing and opening the embassy, and explained that it would take years, not months.


When later pressed on a timeframe, one official said that he expected it would take no less than three to four years, as other U.S. embassies have taken at least that long to move. One remarked that the ongoing relocation of the U.S. embassy in London took eight years.


Pressed on whether the embassy would be moved within Trump’s current presidential term so that a potential subsequent administration could not overturn Trump’s decision, one official replied, “As a practical matter, no embassy is constructed today anywhere in the world in shorter than three to four years. No embassy.”


The official dismissed the possibility that a subsequent president could reverse the decision, adding that updates would be provided on progress toward planning, funding, and building a new embassy.
One read a statement declaring that Trump is fulfilling a major campaign promise by recognizing Jerusalem as the capital of Israel. He added that a number of previous presidential candidates had made the same promise but had declined to fulfill it. The official further stated that the move has broad bipartisan support in Congress, with the legislative body voting for the Jerusalem Embassy Act in 10 successive congresses. The Act was first passed in 1995.

In response to questions about whether Trump’s decision would set back negotiations between Israelis and Palestinians, an official said: “Delaying the recognition of Jerusalem as the capital of Israel has done nothing to achieve peace for more than two decades.”


Officials were also at pains to emphasize that no other issue would be affected by the new policy. Trump is “prepared to support a two-state solution to the dispute between Israelis and Palestinians if agreed to by the two parties,” the official stated. “President Trump also recognizes the specific boundaries in Israeli sovereignty in Jerusalem are subject to final status negotiations of such an agreement.”


“President Trump reaffirms support for the status quo at the Temple Mount, Haram esh-Sharif,” the official continued.


The decision-making process had involved the President, the Cabinet and department principals. “This was a collaborative U.S. government position,” said one official later, in response to reporters’ questions.


Reporters were also told that “departments and agencies have developed a robust security plan” to ensure the safety of U.S. citizens and assets in case of violent protests against Trump’s decisions.

One official stated emphatically that President Trump has had “very detailed” discussions with Middle East leaders about his decisions on Jerusalem, and reiterated a strong commitment to peace.

President Trump will make his announcements at 1pm ET from the White House on Wednesday afternoon.

It's such a good and bold decision. Takes a lot of guts and courage to make this move. I don't support it for the same reason as the evangelicals who are behind this. I support it because it's just common sense. Jerusalem is the capital of Israel. US Embassies are located in the capital cities of nation states. There was no reason all these years to defy this or treat Israel any differently than we treat every other nation on the planet.

Moving our Embassy to Jerusalem doesn't have anything to do with the peace process because it doesn't have anything to do with the dispute. It's acknowledgement of a simple fact that a nation who is our ally, a nation recognized by the world, has their national government in Jerusalem which makes it their capital, we place embassies in the same cities where the nation has their government. This whole thing has been a contrived controversy and it is time for it to end. I do feel sorry for Tel Aviv because having our Embassy in their city certainly provides a great deal of economic support, but times change, problems and disputes get resolved and hopefully they'll find another economic income to support their city.

Also, it's entirely possible that this decision will actually aid the peace process, because it's now an issue removed from the debate. Palestine can have their national government in Jerusalem, too, if they want. There will be some contrived backlash, but it will pass, and everyone will be better off for it. This limbo all these decades has not been helpful, it's just been a sign of silly and weak leadership in past years.

Related:


LIVE: President Trump Jerusalem Announcement

https://www.alipac.us/f19/live-presi...cement-353172/