Skip To Content
JEWISH. INDEPENDENT. NONPROFIT.
Fast Forward

Trump Flip-Flops On Moving Embassy To Jerusalem — Says ‘We’ll See’

Moving the American embassy to Jerusalem was once a cornerstone of President Trump’s new cozy policy to Israel — a powerful statement about the Donald’s commitment to the “eternal capital of the Jewish state.”

It was so crucial that the incoming president considered decreeing the move at a minute after midnight on inauguration day.

Now it’s one option to be considered at some unspecified time in the future, if and when it makes sense to U.S. policymakers. In other words: Don’t hold your breath.

“We’ll see what happens,” Trump said when questioned about his commitment to the move during a joint press conference with Israel’s Benjamin Netanyahu.

So much for a clean break that the Orange One promised from previous administrations, Republican and Democratic, that saw the move as untenable.

Trump has apparently been listening to advisers that warn him that moving the embassy could enrage the Arab world and make achieving other goals (got peace talks?) even more difficult.

It remains to be seen how Jewish right-wingers in and out of Israel will respond to what should be a bitter betrayal over the embassy move.

Republish This Story

Please read before republishing

We’re happy to make this story available to republish for free, unless it originated with JTA, Haaretz or another publication (as indicated on the article) and as long as you follow our guidelines. You must credit the Forward, retain our pixel and preserve our canonical link in Google search.  See our full guidelines for more information, and this guide for detail about canonical URLs.

To republish, copy the HTML by clicking on the yellow button to the right; it includes our tracking pixel, all paragraph styles and hyperlinks, the author byline and credit to the Forward. It does not include images; to avoid copyright violations, you must add them manually, following our guidelines. Please email us at [email protected], subject line “republish,” with any questions or to let us know what stories you’re picking up.

We don't support Internet Explorer

Please use Chrome, Safari, Firefox, or Edge to view this site.