Ted Cruz
Photo: AFP
Cruz pushes to move US embassy from Tel Aviv to Jerusalem
Bill submitted to Congress calls to recognize Jerusalem Israel's eternal and undivided capital; 'It's finally time to cut through the double-speak and broken promises and do what Congress said we should do in 1995: formally move our embassy to the capital of our great ally Israel,' Cruz says.
Republican Senator Ted Cruz submitted a bill proposal to the new US Congress on its very first day calling for the United States to recognize Jerusalem as Israel's eternal and undivided capital and to move its embassy from Tel Aviv to Jerusalem.
The Texan senator's bill, which was also sponsored by Florida Senator Marco Rubio and Nevada Senator Dean Heller, includes an article that suggests Congress would delay the transfer of budgets to the State Department until the move from Tel Aviv to Jerusalem is done.
“Jerusalem is the eternal and undivided capital of Israel,” Cruz, who lost to Donald Trump in the Republican primaries, said in a written statement.
US Senator Ted Cruz (Photo: AP)
“Unfortunately, the Obama administration's vendetta against the Jewish state has been so vicious that to even utter this simple truth—let alone the reality that Jerusalem is the appropriate venue for the American embassy in Israel—is shocking in some circles," he added.
"But it is finally time to cut through the double-speak and broken promises and do what Congress said we should do in 1995: formally move our embassy to the capital of our great ally Israel.”
The Republican majority in Congress and President-elect Trump's repeat promises to move the embassy make it likely the bill will pass.
But implementing it would be problematic, as the Palestinians have already threatened that if the embassy is moved to Jerusalem, it would lead to rioting and violence, while the PLO leadership will rescind its recognition of the State of Israel.
