Kushner: Trump hasn’t decided yet on moving US embassy in Israel
President Trump’s senior adviser and son-in-law Jared Kushner said Sunday that the president has yet to decide on the location of the U.S. embassy in Israel, despite reports Trump will again delay moving the embassy from Tel Aviv to Jerusalem.
“The president is going to make his decision,” Kushner said at a Brookings Institution event, in comments reported by The Associated Press.
“He is still looking at a lot of different facts,” he said.
{mosads}Kushner has been tasked by the administration with spearheading peace talks between Israel and the Palestinian Authority.
The international community recognizes Tel Aviv as Israel’s capital, while the country recognizes Jerusalem as its capital.
However, the Palestinian Authority has said Jerusalem would serve as its capital in a future independent Palestinian state.
A U.S. decision to move the U.S. embassy to Jerusalem would be a break from international consensus and U.S. precedent.
While the 1995 Jerusalem Embassy Act calls on the U.S. to move its embassy in Israel to Jerusalem, past administrations have signed waivers every six months to keep the embassy in Tel Aviv.
Trump signed a waiver to keep the embassy in Tel Aviv in June. The president repeatedly promised on the campaign trail that he would move the embassy.
The Associated Press reported recently that the president is considering recognizing the holy city as Israel’s capital as a means of delaying uprooting the embassy.
The Arab League warned on Sunday that the move would “fuel extremism” in the Middle East.
“Today we say very clearly that taking such action is not justified … It will not serve peace or stability, but will fuel extremism and resort to violence,” Arab League Secretary-General Ahmed Aboul Gheit said in a statement, according to Reuters.
The AP reported that Trump could issue a waiver on moving the embassy as soon as Monday.
Copyright 2023 Nexstar Media Inc. All rights reserved. This material may not be published, broadcast, rewritten, or redistributed.