ANT KATZ

Heavyweight Senators Marco Rubio, Dean Heller and Ted Cruz yesterday reintroduced the Jerusalem Embassy and Recognition Act, legislation that would fulfil America’s commitment to Israel to relocate the US embassy from Tel Aviv to Jerusalem.‎

World Israel News reported that the Senate legislation, which was initially presented in 2011, recognises Jerusalem as the undivided capital of the State of Israel and relocates the US embassy from Tel Aviv to Jerusalem. The new bill will remove the President’s waiver authority that has delayed this move until now, and requires official government documents to reflect this recognition by identifying Jerusalem as Israel’s capital.

A similar Congressional bill, passed in 1995, has gone unimplemented by successive Presidents Clinton, Bush and Obama. To date, each president has signed a presidential waiver every six months in order to keep the embassy in Tel Aviv, citing their respective concerns that a move could hinder the Israeli-Palestinian peace process.

Yesterday, however, Rubio told the Senate: “Jerusalem is the eternal capital of the Jewish state of Israel, and that’s where America’s embassy belongs.”

Rubio added that it was time for Congress and the president-elect to eliminate the loophole “that has allowed presidents in both parties to ignore US law and delay our embassy’s rightful relocation to Jerusalem for over two decades.”

However, according to a report in the Washington Examiner, President-elect Trump won’t get any help from the State Department in implementing Israeli-relation policies opposed by President Obama before his inauguration. President Obama has seen to that.

“The short answer is no,” State Department spokesman John Kirby told reporters. “You have one president at a time.” Obama’s team invoked that axiom to justify high-profile foreign policy actions in recent weeks, and Kirby’s statement extended that principle to barring any aid in helping the Trump team prepare to move the embassy to Jerusalem or recognise Jerusalem as the nation’s capital.

While on the campaign trail, President-elect Donald Trump stated that his intention to move the US embassy to Jerusalem.

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Congressional bill harks back to 1995

In 1995, Congress passed the Jerusalem Embassy and Relocation Act, which recognised Jerusalem as the capital of Israel by moving the embassy.

The new bill withholds certain State Department funds until that relocation is complete.

Senator Heller stated that from his first days as senator, he has “prioritised the strengthening of the important relationship” shared between Israel and the US.

“For years, I’ve advocated for America’s need to reaffirm its support for one of our nation’s strongest allies,” he said yesterday, “by recognising Jerusalem as the undivided capital of Israel”.

Heller says that such action would honour an important promise America has left unfulfilled for “more than two decades”. Administrations come and go, said Heller, but “the lasting strength of our partnership with one of our strongest allies in the Middle East continues to endure”.

He said he looks forward to working with the new Administration “to turn this bill into law.”

Senator Cruz weighed in too: “Unfortunately, the Obama administration’s vendetta against the Jewish state has been so vicious that (recognising Jerusalem as Israel’s capital) is shocking in some circles,” he said. “But it is finally time to cut through the double-speak and broken promises and do what Congress said we should do in 1995: formally move our embassy to the capital of our great ally Israel.”

CBN News reported yesterday that: “There’s also been talk among Republicans about cutting funding to the United Nations, after the Obama administration refused to support Israel in a vote against Israeli settlements.”