The Jerusalem Embassy Relocation Act

US Embassy Tel Aviv

Are you at all familiar with the Jerusalem Embassy Relocation Act? This act, to move the American embassy from Tel Aviv to Jerusalem was passed overwhelmingly on October 23, 1995, by both the Senate (93-5) and the House (374-37).

The Act then states what henceforth will be not Congressional preferences but the official policy of the United States toward Jerusalem: that it should remain a united city in which the rights of every ethnic and religious group are protected; that it should be recognized as the capital of the State of Israel; and that the U.S. Embassy should be established there no later than May 31, 1999.

1995. If you were born in 1995, you would be sixteen years old this year. For sixteen years, the will of the people, as reflected by the vote of their representatives has been overridden, delayed and virtually ignored by the executive branch. What are the odds that a president who advocates a return to a border which divides Jerusalem, would ever implement this act of Congress?

In June of last year, Obama, like his predecessors before him, delayed the implementation of this law.

For the third time, U.S. President Barack Obama delayed for six months moving the U.S. embassy in Israel from Tel Aviv to Jerusalem. Ever since 1995, when the Jerusalem Embassy Act was passed ordering the transfer of the U.S. embassy, U.S. presidents have routinely delayed the move.

The fourth time would be December 3, 2010

Anyone want to make book if he'll go for five? Me, neither.

Update: If he were serious that "Jerusalem will remain the capital of Israel and it must remain undivided", as he told AIPAC in 2008 when he was running for president, he would back up his words with deeds. Don't look for that to happen anytime soon.



Cross posted at LCR, Say Anything.