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US Embassy Move
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Trump Missing Embassy Waiver Deadline by a Few Days is No Big Deal, Experts Say
Dec 4, 2017 | The Times of Israel
By Eric Cortellessa and Raphael Ahren
Though some say there might a political cost, ex-US envoy to Israel Dan Shapiro, who had a hand in 1995 law, says 'not too many lawyers' will argue waiver is void if signed late. -
Trump Delays Final Decision on Moving U.S. Embassy to Jerusalem, White House Says
Dec 5, 2017 | Haaretz
By Amir Tibon
France's Macron tells Trump he's worried about U.S. recognizing Jerusalem as Israel's capital ■ Saudi Arabia's ambassador to the U.S. says any Trump move on Jerusalem would hurt the peace process and heighten regional tensions. -
US Embassies Said to Gird for Protests over Trump Jerusalem Moves
Dec 5, 2017 | The Times of Israel
The US State Department is reportedly bracing for violence at its embassies and consulates should President Donald Trump follow through on his reported intention to recognize Jerusalem as the capital of Israel. -
Florida Governor: Embassy Must be in Jerusalem
Dec 5, 2017 | The Jerusalem Post
By Max Schindler
Visiting Israel, Florida Governor Rick Scott pushed for the American embassy in Tel Aviv to be moved to Jerusalem. US President Trump must decide by Monday night whether to sign another waiver or order the embassy to be moved.
English Israeli News Coverage
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Trump Missing Embassy Waiver Deadline by a Few Days is No Big Deal, Experts Say
Dec 4, 2017 | The Times of Israel
By Eric Cortellessa and Raphael Ahren
In newsrooms, a deadline is a deadline. But in Washington, DC, they aren’t always as strict as one might expect.
Despite the fact that US President Donald Trump has until Monday to sign a waiver delaying a move of the US embassy from Tel Aviv to Jerusalem for six more months, he apparently can disregard that deadline by a few days — as he seems poised to do — without triggering immediate major consequences.
While the formal deadline was December 1, it fell on a Friday, and so it was extended to Monday, December 4, after the weekend. But on Monday, there was still no sign of Trump taking action on the waiver, appearing set to make his announcement in a Wednesday speech.
And even though he will have by then missed the deadline, his eventual decision will be honored, a former US official and another analyst said. A third expert cautioned, however, that there might be a certain political cost.
“I think it’s an accepted practice in Washington and the US government that an enactment of the waiver that was not exactly timely but still in the ballpark, will still be deemed as fulfilling the requirement,” Dan Shapiro told The Times of Israel, on Monday.
A former US ambassador to Israel in the Obama administration, Shapiro was a congressional staffer in 1995 when the Jerusalem Embassy Act — which mandates the embassy’s relocation, but grants the president the prerogative to delay the move based on national security grounds — was passed into law.
At the time of the law’s passage, Shapiro worked as foreign policy aide to Democratic California Senator Dianne Feinstein, who was instrumental in getting the law’s sponsors to insert a provision allowing the president to waive the move. It is this particular stipulation that has prevented the embassy’s relocation for the last 22 years.
Trump is expected to sign the waiver, but simultaneously give a speech Wednesday announcing that he formally recognize Jerusalem as the Israeli capital — an action that is likely to infuriate Palestinians and upset other Arab nations, like Saudi Arabia and Jordan.
A Palestinian delegation visited the White House on Friday and warned Trump’s senior adviser and son-in-law Jared Kushner that such a move would lead to violence, end the peace process, and instigate a tide of regional instability.
On Sunday, Kushner told the Saban Forum, a conference on the Middle East hosted each December by the Brookings Institution, that the president has yet to make up his mind on the matter.
“The president is going to make his decision,” Kushner told his interviewer, the Israeli-American media mogul and Democratic donor Haim Saban. “He’s still looking at a lot of different facts.”
A White House official on Monday told The Times of Israel: “The president has always said it is a matter of when, not if. The president is still considering options and we have nothing to announce.”
But for now, Shapiro made clear, Trump could easily postpone signing the waiver for a few days without fearing any major consequences.
The law does not, in fact, require an automatic relocation of the embassy to Jerusalem. Rather, what tangibly happens under the law if the waiver is not signed is that at the beginning of the next fiscal year — October 1, 2018 — 50 percent of the funds earmarked to the State Department specifically for “Acquisition and Maintenance of Buildings Abroad” would be withheld until the United States Embassy in Jerusalem had officially opened.
If Trump ultimately signs the waiver on Tuesday or Wednesday, “There are not too many lawyers who will argue that the waiver has no effect because it was done after the deadline,” said Shapiro, who is now a visiting fellow at the Tel Aviv-based Institute for National Security Studies.
“Even if the account is being frozen, it will be released the moment the waiver is signed,” Shapiro added. “So the freezing of [those] funds is practically meaningless.”
Professor Shlomo Slonim, a Hebrew University expert on US politics and constitutional law, said that Shapiro’s assessment is probably right, “but not because it’s correct, but because nobody is going to try to do anything about it.”
In theory, Slonim added, one could argue that once the deadline for the waiver has passed, the law comes into effect and can no longer be cancelled.
“The waiver postpones the implementation of the law. If you don’t exercise the waiver, what that means is that the law comes into effect. If the law comes into effect the State Department is now under the obligation to transfer the embassy,” he said.
However, he said, it was unclear who would invoke the law. A private citizen or even a member of Congress is unable to go about invoking laws, he said.
Eugene Kontorovich, a US-Israeli law professor, said Shapiro is right when he says it is “accepted practice” not to care for a deadline to be missed by a few days. “But accepted practice is at odds with the statute, and a bad guide to the future under a new administration,” he said. “‘Accepted practice’ mattered more when no one even thought about not waiving. Now that an embassy move is squarely on the table, not issuing a waiver in a timely manner would be quite significant.”
It is true that Congress cannot legally challenge Trump signing the waiver a few days later, but some on Capitol Hill can be expected “to really give Trump hell over this,” said Kontorovich, who heads the international law department at the Kohelet Policy Forum.
“Moreover, the way the statute works, once a waiver is not made at the expiration of a prior one, it can’t be made afterwards. So ignoring this law will likely have a political cost for Trump.”
https://www.timesofisrael.com/trump-likely-to-miss-monday-deadline-on-embassy-announcement-by-several-days/
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Trump Delays Final Decision on Moving U.S. Embassy to Jerusalem, White House Says
Dec 5, 2017 | Haaretz
By Amir Tibon
The Trump administration announced on Monday that it has not reached a decision yet on whether or not to move the U.S. Embassy in Israel to Jerusalem, despite the fact that the legal deadline for signing a presidential waiver on the matter was about to expire. A White House spokesperson said that "no action will be taken on the waiver today. We will share a decision on the waiver in the coming days."
Theoretically, the White House's announcement allows Congress to demand the administration to begin moving the embassy, since Trump did not sign the presidential waiver in time. Congress could also cut funding from the State Department if the administration doesn't fulfill its' obligations under the 1995 "Jerusalem Embassy Act." However, it is unlikely that the Republican-controlled Congress would act on this issue in the coming days, which means that Trump has a window of at least a few days to make a final decision on the waiver.
Earlier Monday, French President Emmanuel Macron told U.S. President Donald Trump on Monday that he is worried the U.S. will unilaterally recognize Jerusalem as Israel's capital after speaking with President Donald Trump on the phone.
"The French President expressed his concern over the possibility that the United States would unilaterally recognize Jerusalem as the capital of Israel," according to a statement from Macron.
"Mr. Emmanuel Macron reaffirmed that the question of Jerusalem's status had to be dealt with in the framework of peace negotiations between Israelis and Palestinians, with the aim in particular to establish two countries, Israel and Palestine, living in peace and security side by side with Jerusalem as capital."
Saudi Arabia said on Monday any U.S. announcement on the status of Jerusalem before a final settlement is reached in the Israeli-Palestinian conflict would hurt the peace process and heighten regional tensions.
"Any U.S. announcement on the status of Jerusalem prior to a final settlement would have a detrimental impact on the peace process and would heighten tensions in the region," Saudi Ambassador Prince Khalid bin Salman said in a statement.
"The kingdom's policy - has been - and remains in support of the Palestinian people, and this has been communicated to the U.S. administration."
Macron and Bin Salman's comments come one day after the foreign ministers of Egypt and Jordan spoke on Sunday with U.S. Secretary of State Rex Tillerson and warned him against declaring Jerusalem as the capital of Israel, a move Trump is considering carrying out later this week.
Over the weekend, senior Palestinian officials warned that U.S. recognition of Jerusalem as Israel's capital or the relocation of the American embassy would put an end to peace talks. President Mahmoud Abbas' spokesman, Nabil Abu Rudeinah, said Saturday that such a step is a dangerous development that would destabilize the region, while Hamas has called for a popular uprising to thwart such a "conspiracy."
Last week, Jordanian King Abdullah warned the Trump administration and senior members of Congress about the dangers of moving the American Embassy in Israel to Jerusalem. The king said during a working visit to Washington that such a move could strengthen terrorist groups across the Middle East and lead to the collapse of any peace initiative currently being planned by the Trump administration. Abdullah met on Sunday with American Secretary of Defense James Mattis in Jordan.
https://www.haaretz.com/israel-news/1.826831
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US Embassies Said to Gird for Protests over Trump Jerusalem Moves
Dec 5, 2017 | The Times of Israel
The US State Department is reportedly bracing for violence at its embassies and consulates should President Donald Trump follow through on his reported intention to recognize Jerusalem as the capital of Israel.
Diplomats fear an announcement by Trump, expected in a major policy speech Wednesday, could provoke anger in the Muslim world, setting off protests at US missions around the world, the Politico news site reported Monday.
At least two classified cables have been sent to embassies and consulates warning them of potential danger and advising they ramp up security, the report said.
“The impending Jerusalem announcement has me very worried about the possibility of violent responses that could affect embassies,” the site quoted a State Department official as saying.
World leaders have warned Trump that breaking with decades of US policy and shifting Washington’s position on Israel’s capital — as well as possibly moving the embassy from Tel Aviv to Jerusalem — could spark violence.
The Hamas terror group, which controls Gaza, called Saturday for a new intifada if Washington recognizes Jerusalem as the capital of Israel or moves its embassy there.
Defense Minister Avigdor Liberman on Monday brushed aside warnings of violence by Palestinians and the wider Arab world, saying Israel will “know how to deal with all the ramifications” of any US police shift.
Though heavily fortified, US missions have been the target of violent mobs angry at Washington in the past, including protests outside embassies in 2012 following the release of a movie critical of the prophet Muhammad.
Trump, who campaigned on a promise of moving the embassy, walked it back after assuming the presidency. Recent reports say that he was unhappy with his first waiver issued in June and wants to go ahead and recognize Jerusalem as Israel’s capital. There have been conflicting details as to what such a recognition would encompass, and whether it would involve moving the embassy.
A deadline on signing a waiver to delay moving the embassy passed Monday without any US move on the issue.
Palestinian officials have said that moving the embassy would scuttle attempts to revive Israeli-Palestinian peace talks led by Jared Kushner, Trump’s son-in-law and adviser. Kushner, in a rare public appearance this weekend, said he was optimistic about restarting the talks.
Significantly, Saudi Arabia on Monday also warned against recognizing Jerusalem as Israel’s capital. Kushner has become close to the Saudi crown prince, Muhammad bin Salman, and has sought his help in advancing the peace process.
“Any US announcement on the status of Jerusalem prior to a final settlement would have a detrimental impact on the peace process and would heighten tensions in the region,” Saudi Ambassador to the US Prince Khalid bin Salman, the crown prince’s brother, was quoted by Reuters as saying.
The Arab League said it was closely watching Trump’s moves on Jerusalem, with leader Ahmed Abul Gheit warning that recognizing the city as Israel’s capital would pose a threat “to the stability of the Middle East and the whole world.”
“It will not serve peace or stability, instead it will nourish fanaticism and violence,” he said on Sunday, noting that the League was following the issue and would coordinate a joint position with Palestinian and Arab leaders if Trump took the step.
Jordan’s Foreign Minister Ayman Safadi also warned that any change to the status of Jerusalem would have “grave consequences,” in a phone conversation with US Secretary of State Rex Tillerson on Sunday.
It was crucial, he said, “to preserve the historical and legal status of Jerusalem and refrain from any decision that aims to change that status,” the official Petra news agency reported.
The Organization of Islamic Cooperation said Monday that recognizing Jerusalem as Israel’s capital would be an act of “naked aggression” that would cause the United States to lose “its mediating role” in the Middle East, after an emergency meeting at the OIC headquarters in Jeddah, Saudi Arabia.
https://www.timesofisrael.com/us-embassies-said-to-gird-for-protests-over-trump-jerusalem-moves/
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Florida Governor: Embassy Must be in Jerusalem
Dec 5, 2017 | The Jerusalem Post
By Max Schindler
Visiting Israel, Florida Governor Rick Scott pushed for the American embassy in Tel Aviv to be moved to Jerusalem. US President Trump must decide by Monday night whether to sign another waiver or order the embassy to be moved.
“It’s the capital of Israel, our embassy ought to be located there,” Governor Scott told The Jerusalem Post on Monday as he toured Tel Aviv University. “We passed legislation... and we need to comply with the legislation instead of the waivers.”
The bill – which was signed in 1995 – mandates that the embassy be moved to Jerusalem by 1999, unless the president signs a six-month national security waiver. In June, Trump got his first chance to keep a campaign promise but instead, signed the waiver.
The Post then asked Scott: “If Trump reconsiders this, will you go along with him? Will you disagree if he holds off?” The governor didn’t waver. “I believe the embassy ought to be in Jerusalem. That’s what I’m going to support.”
Shifting away from the delicate politics of Jerusalem, Scott emphasized jobs as he led a five day-long trade mission of 70 business executives, including the CEO of Florida Power & Light, to the Jewish state.
The governor is meeting with a number of Israeli business executives to encourage investment in Florida. Florida’s trade relationship with the Jewish state is worth some $286 million annually, according to Scott’s office, and Enterprise Florida, a partnership between Florida’s business and government leaders, has a local office in Israel.
Tel Aviv reminded the governor of Miami, since “they’re both very entrepreneurial.” He added that residents of the metropolitan Palm Beach area – with its heavy Jewish population – were very supportive of Israel.
“There are a lot of people in Florida who are very financially supportive of Israel,” Scott said. “They’re constantly calling me and letting me know that we have to do more business with Israel.”
Due to that political support, the governor signed a bill in 2016 barring Florida from doing business with anyone affiliated with the Boycott, Divestment and Sanctions movement.
“It’s disgusting that people think about doing that. Israel is a sovereign nation; Israel deserves to be respected like everybody else. There should be no antisemitism in the world. I’m going to do everything I can to stand with Israel.”
In terms of the Florida-Israeli relationship, Scott touted El Al’s recently launched direct flights from Miami to Tel Aviv, which run three times a week. He added that further memorandums-of-understanding (MOUs) were on the table for research and academic cooperation.
In 2013, both Florida and the State of Israel invested $1 million each in a joint aerospace and research MOU. Previous MOUs were signed between the medical schools at Florida Atlantic University and Haifa’s Technion. On Monday, Scott signed an MOU pledging cooperation between Tel Aviv University and Florida State University.
Scott also touted how his 2017-2018 budget included $650,000 for security funding at Jewish day schools. Next year’s budget will include $1 million to protect Jewish pupils, which includes video cameras, fencing, bullet-proof glass and alarm systems.
The governor, who was elected in 2010, first visited Israel in an official capacity in 2011. This time, Ann Scott, Florida’s First Lady, came along as the governor’s main confidante.http://www.jpost.com/Israel-News/Florida-governor-Embassy-must-be-in-Jerusalem-517027
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