President Donald Trump
Photo: Fox News
Trump: Too early to talk about moving embassy to Jerusalem
Speaking in an interview with Fox News, the US president also indicates that millions of dollars earmarked for the PA by Obama may be transferred to their designated recipient; he insists that the US-Israel relationship was 'good' and 'repaired.'
US President Donald Trump raised further doubts about his commitment to implementing his campaign pledge to move the US embassy from Tel Aviv to Jerusalem after refusing to answer a question on the matter.
Speaking during an interview with Fox News anchor Sean Hannity that was broadcast Thursday night, Trump was asked where he stood on the transfer of the embassy to Jerusalem, to which he replied: “I don’t want to talk about it yet. It’s too early.”
Trump was also ambivalent when asked whether the $221 million package earmarked for the Palestinian Authority by the Obama administration in its waning hours would indeed be transferred or withheld.
President Donald Trump (Photo: Fox News)
While GOP Congress members have been holding up the money, Trump told Hannity: “We’re going to see what happens. Yeah. I don’t want to talk about it.”
Trump was unequivocal however in stating his belief that the frayed US-Israel relationship caused by gaping differences of opinion between Prime Minister Netanyahu and Barack Obama on an array of issues had been fixed.
“It’s repaired. It got repaired the minute I took the oath,” he said. “We have a good relationship. Israel’s been treated very badly. We have a very good relationship with Israel.”
In a recent phone call with Israeli Defense Minister Avigdor Lieberman, Defense Secretary James Mattis underscored his "unwavering commitment to Israel's security," the Pentagon said.
James Mattis (Photo: AFP)
However, last week Mattis told the Senate Armed Services Committee that he considered the capital of Israel to be Tel Aviv, indicating that he was either vastly at odds with his new boss on the matter, or that Trump had revised his previously stated position which was made abundantly clear just months earlier.
Reaching the peroration of the speech he delivered to the American Israel Public Affairs Committee (AIPAC) last March, Trump stated that under his administration, “We will move the American embassy to the eternal capital of the Jewish people Jerusalem.”
