Trump Planned To Move Embassy In Israel At ‘12:01’ On First Day — So What Happened?
Image by Johny Finn
By Naomi Zeveloff February 14, 2017
President Trump planned to move the U.S. embassy from Tel Aviv to Jerusalem as his first act in office, but backed off because of because of regional concerns over such a move.
Interviewed on Politico’s The Global podcast, Republican Senator Bob Corker of Tennessee said that Trump was “ready to move the embassy at 12:01 on January 20th. Maybe even 12 and 30 seconds. That was going to be their first move.”
Corker said that an announcement may have been put on hold when the Trump administration realized some of the complexities involved, including the fact that it might not be in Israel’s best interest given its increasing cooperation some Sunni Arab states in opposition of the nuclear deal with Iran.
Corker said that the move was not off the table altogether, but said it could only happen in consultation with Arab states in the region that promote the two-state solution.
“I think they got to communicate to the Arab world that this isn’t doing away with the two-state-solution. There’s a lot of communication that’s got to come with it,” he said.
Contact Naomi Zeveloff at [email protected]
I hope you appreciated this article. Before you go, I’d like to ask you to please support the Forward’s award-winning journalism this Passover.
In this age of misinformation, our work is needed like never before. We report on the news that matters most to American Jews, driven by truth, not ideology.
At a time when newsrooms are closing or cutting back, the Forward has removed its paywall. That means for the first time in our 126-year history, Forward journalism is free to everyone, everywhere. With an ongoing war, rising antisemitism, and a flood of disinformation that may affect the upcoming election, we believe that free and open access to Jewish journalism is imperative.
Readers like you make it all possible. Right now, we’re in the middle of our Passover Pledge Drive and we still need 300 people to step up and make a gift to sustain our trustworthy, independent journalism.
Make a gift of any size and become a Forward member today. You’ll support our mission to tell the American Jewish story fully and fairly.
— Rachel Fishman Feddersen, Publisher and CEO
Join our mission to tell the Jewish story fully and fairly.
Only 300 more gifts needed by April 30
