Netanyahu: U.S. will move embassy to Jerusalem this year

[brooklynite]

Source: Axios

Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu told reporters Wednesday it is his "solid assessment" that the U.S. embassy would move to Jerusalem at some point this year, which is much sooner than the Trump administration indicated the move would happen, the AP reports. Netanyahu spoke with reporters while traveling through India.

State Department Press Secretary Heather Nauert told Axios, "The U.S. government is currently assessing the suitability of various Jerusalem sites for a future embassy. For now, we have no updates” on the timeline.

Read more: https://www.axios.com/netanyahu-us-embassy-to-move-to-jerusalem-this-year-1516223182-01b3142e-5b76-44f0-b6b9-fd362fa7f900.html

[atreides1]

1. WTF is he smoking???

They'll be lucky if they find a site and begin work on it, this year!!

1.Find a suitable site
2.Plans for the facility have to be drawn up
3.Establish funding for the facility

[Mosby]

8. The US already owns land for an embassy in J'lem

On President Ronald Reagan's last day in office in 1989, then-U.S. Ambassador to Israel William Brown signed a contract for a patch of land in West Jerusalem for $1 a year on a 99-year lease. This space was later zoned for “diplomatic purposes” by the Israeli government with the intention of building a U.S. Embassy there.

Nowadays, this land sits in an increasingly desirable part of Jerusalem on the edge of the Talpiot neighborhood by Baka. “It's a great area,” said David Makovsky, a fellow at the Washington Institute for Near East Policy who was an adviser to Secretary of State John F. Kerry on the Middle East peace process. “There's been a lot of apartment buildings built around there in anticipation of a U.S. Embassy.”

It might not be big enough though.


https://www.washingtonpost.com/news/worldviews/wp/2017/12/07/where-would-a-u-s-embassy-in-jerusalem-actually-go/?utm_term=.41058f4e4323

[ripcord]

9. I think I know what will happen

There is already a consulate in Jerusalem so they will move the ambassador and some of his staff there and conduct the rest of the operations in Tel Aviv.

[Kristofer Bry]

2. Is that your final decision, Bibi?

Just to be polite, you ought to tell Trump.

[bluestarone]

3. don't count on it

[guillaumeb]

4. Fuse, meet match.

Amazingly provocative.

[IggleDuer]

5. What if the Orange one doesnt like the deal to sell the old embassy?

Will he refuse to go to the ribbon cutting.

[BumRushDaShow]

6. When does his trial start?

Soon I hope!

https://www.timesofisrael.com/police-to-recommend-netanyahu-stand-trial-in-both-graft-cases-report/

[Turbineguy]

7. Let me guess

The Russians built one they are willing to rent out. First month off with a one year lease! No cleaning deposit!

[Eugene]

10. Exclusive: Trump denies U.S. embassy to be moved to Jerusalem within a year

Source: Reuters

#WORLD NEWS JANUARY 17, 2018 / 3:55 PM / UPDATED 3 HOURS AGO

Exclusive: Trump denies U.S. embassy to be moved to Jerusalem within a year

Reuters Staff
3 MIN READ

WASHINGTON (Reuters) - President Donald Trump denied on Wednesday that the planned relocation of the U.S. embassy in Israel to Jerusalem would take place within a year, after Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu said he expected the controversial move to happen by then.

Reversing decades of U.S. policy, Trump in early December recognized Jerusalem as Israel’s capital and set in motion the process of moving the embassy from Tel Aviv, imperiling Middle East peace efforts and upsetting the Arab world and Western allies alike.

U.S. Secretary of State Rex Tillerson said last month the embassy move was “probably no earlier than three years out, and that’s pretty ambitious,” a timeframe that administration officials have attributed to the logistics of finding and securing a site as well as arranging housing for diplomats.

Jerusalem is home to sites holy to the Muslim, Jewish and Christian religions. The Palestinians want East Jerusalem, which Israel captured in the 1967 Arab-Israeli war and annexed in a move not recognized internationally, as the capital of their future state.

-snip-

Read more: https://www.reuters.com/article/us-usa-trump-israel-exclusive/exclusive-trump-denies-u-s-embassy-to-be-moved-to-jerusalem-within-a-year-idUSKBN1F62UH