Israel Expects Other Countries To Also Recognize Jerusalem As Capital

Image by Getty images
JERUSALEM (JTA) — After the United States recognized Jerusalem as the capital of Israel and moved toward relocating its embassy there, Israel said it expects other countries to follow suit.
Speaking at Israel’s Foreign Ministry Thursday, a day after the historic shift in U.S. policy, Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu said he was in contact with countries interested in such actions.
“We are holding contacts with other countries who will also recognize Jerusalem as Israel’s capital. I have no doubt than when the U.S. Embassy will move there, and even before that, many embassies will relocate to Jerusalem, he said Thursday at a diplomatic conference at the Foreign Ministry. “It’s about time.”
Speaking on condition of anonymity, Israeli officials said Thursday that they expect Czech President Milos Zeman to recognize Jerusalem as Israel’s capital later in the day. The officials said both the Czech Republic and the Philippines were eager to move their embassies to Jerusalem from Tel Aviv.
On Wednesday, the Czech Republic’s Foreign Ministry said it considers Jerusalem to be “in fact the capital of Israel in the borders of the demarcation line from 1967,” meaning only the city’s west. But it said it would not move the embassy prior to a negotiated Israeli-Palestinian deal. Although the Czech parliament already recognized Jerusalem as Israel’s capital earlier this year, the embassy of the Central European nation has remained in the Tel Aviv area.
Also Wednesday, Philippines President Rodrigo Duterte sent a message to Israel that he wanted to move his country’s embassy to Jerusalem, Israel’s Kan public broadcaster reported.
Jerusalem reportedly anticipates that Hungary may move its embassy to Jerusalem as well. According to The Times of Israel, citing unnamed European sources, Budapest blocked a joint European Union statement that would have opposed the historic change in the U.S. position.
The Forward is free to read, but it isn’t free to produce

I hope you appreciated this article. Before you go, I’d like to ask you to please support the Forward.
Now more than ever, American Jews need independent news they can trust, with reporting driven by truth, not ideology. We serve you, not any ideological agenda.
At a time when other newsrooms are closing or cutting back, the Forward has removed its paywall and invested additional resources to report on the ground from Israel and around the U.S. on the impact of the war, rising antisemitism and polarized discourse.
This is a great time to support independent Jewish journalism you rely on. Make a gift today!
— Rachel Fishman Feddersen, Publisher and CEO
Support our mission to tell the Jewish story fully and fairly.
Most Popular
- 1
Opinion The dangerous Nazi legend behind Trump’s ruthless grab for power
- 2
Culture Trump wants to honor Hannah Arendt in a ‘Garden of American Heroes.’ Is this a joke?
- 3
Opinion A Holocaust perpetrator was just celebrated on US soil. I think I know why no one objected.
- 4
Culture Did this Jewish literary titan have the right idea about Harry Potter and J.K. Rowling after all?
In Case You Missed It
-
Fast Forward Protesters clash in Crown Heights as Ben-Gvir visits Chabad headquarters
-
Yiddish ווידעאָ: היסטאָריקער שמואל קאַסאָוו דערציילט מעשׂיות פֿון זײַן משפּחה־געשיכטעVIDEO: Historian Samuel Kassow shares stories about his family history
דער ווידעאָ איז טשיקאַווע סײַ פֿאַרן אינהאַלט סײַ פֿאַר קאַסאָווס נאַטירלעכן ליטוויש־ייִדיש
-
Culture I have seen the future of America — in a pastrami sandwich in Queens
-
Culture Trump wants to honor Hannah Arendt in a ‘Garden of American Heroes.’ Is this a joke?
-
Shop the Forward Store
100% of profits support our journalism
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 comply with the following:
- Credit the Forward
- Retain our pixel
- Preserve our canonical link in Google search
- Add a noindex tag 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.