Move US Embassy to Jerusalem Before Election
Julie Stahl

With President Bush's strong stand for Israel and presumptive Democratic presidential candidate John Kerry competing for the Jewish vote, this could be an opportune time for the United States to move its embassy in from Tel Aviv to Jerusalem, a visiting U.S. Senator said.

"We have an interesting dynamic in the U.S. where Bush is gaining a lot of votes on his pro-Israel position," Sen. Sam Brownback (R-Kan.) told Israeli parliamentarians at the Knesset in Jerusalem recently.

Only two small Latin American countries have their embassies in Jerusalem. Most nations of the world withdrew their embassies from the city in 1980 when Israel enshrined in law its claim to united Jerusalem as its eternal capital.

Congress passed the Jerusalem Embassy Act in 1995, obligating the U.S. to move its embassy from Tel Aviv to Jerusalem by May 1999, but both former President Bill Clinton and President Bush have avoided the move by signing successive waivers every six months. They cite security reasons for the waivers.The Palestinians want the eastern part of Jerusalem to become the capital of a future Palestinian state. In the past, talk of moving the U.S. embassy to Jerusalem has sparked angry reactions in the Arab world.Israel is a key issue for American Jewish voters - a majority of whom have typically voted for Democratic candidates. But Bush has been recognized during these tough years of violence as a great friend to Israel.

"I'm hopeful now is the time for that [embassy move] to occur," said Brownback. "That's been endorsed by administrations as they come into office, endorsed by the Congress. I think it's time to just do this."

Politics aside, Brownback said, the U.S. needs to follow its own foreign policy.

"Israel [is] the only place in the world where the United States does not have our embassy in the capital city, and it is time...past time for America to move our embassy to Jerusalem and to recognize by this act that Jerusalem, undivided, is the capital of Israel...

"People say, well it's going to blow up things around the world but...at a point in time you just have to say we put our embassy where the capital is. Period. It isn't about Israel. This is about U.S. policy," he added.

Brownback, a devout Christian, was speaking to parliamentarians under the sponsorship of the Knesset Christian Allies Caucus. The group, which formed in January, includes 12 lawmakers from six political parties who promote Israeli-Christian relations.
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Move US Embassy to Jerusalem Before Election Julie Stahl

Move US Embassy to Jerusalem Before Election
Julie Stahl