White House senior adviser and President Trump’s son-in-law Jared Kushner is expected to attend the opening of the United States’s Embassy in Jerusalem next month, CNN reported Saturday.
Israeli media reports have said that Treasury Secretary Steven Mnuchin will lead a 250-member delegation reportedly including Kushner and his wife and first daughter Ivanka Trump, another White House aide.
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Texas Sen. Ted Cruz (R) and South Carolina Sen. Lindsey Graham (R) are also reportedly expected to join the delegation.
Trump made the declaration in December that the U.S. would recognize Jerusalem as Israel’s capital, a major shift in U.S. policy, and announced that his administration would move the U.S. Embassy from Tel Aviv to Jerusalem.
The embassy opening next month in Jerusalem is merely a temporary facility that will house Ambassador David Friedman and his staff until a permanent embassy can be built in the city, according to Israeli media. That project will likely take years to complete.
“Initially, the interim embassy in Arnona will contain office space for the ambassador and a small staff. By the end of next year, we will complete the construction of additional office space in the Arnona compound that will provide the ambassador and his team with expanded interim capacity,” an official in the Tel Aviv embassy told The Times of Israel last week.
“Most embassy staff will continue to live and work in Tel Aviv during this period until a new embassy is built in Jerusalem. We expect the process of site selection, design, planning and permitting, and construction of a permanent embassy to take additional years to complete.”
Trump has repeatedly said he “may” attend the Jerusalem embassy opening, something he reiterated during a joint press conference with German Chancellor Angela Merkel on Friday.
“I may go. I’m very proud of it,” Trump said.