Democrats Lawmakers Push For Reopening US Consulate In Jerusalem

A group of visiting Democratic lawmakers expressed to Israeli Prime Minister Naftali Bennett on Friday their support for US President Joe Biden’s plan to reopen the American consulate in Jerusalem, which served as a de facto mission to the Palestinians.

The matter is gearing up to become a point of conflict between Washington and Jerusalem, which opposes the measure.

Trump moved to close the consulate in 2019 and integrate it with the embassy that had been moved to Jerusalem from Tel Aviv, after he recognized Jerusalem as Israel’s capital. Trump described it as an efficiency measure, but it was seen as a de facto downgrading of ties with the Palestinians.

Much of the staff at the historic mission on Agron Street have continued doing the same jobs at the same location, though under a newly named Palestinian Affairs Unit formed under the larger umbrella of US relations to Israel.

Biden has expressed support for reversing the closure.

Asked for his position on the matter, Bennett told a group of US Jewish leaders Friday that Jerusalem is the capital of the State of Israel alone, while declining to comment further.

The group of Democratic lawmakers also met with President Isaac Herzog, Foreign Minister Yair Lapid, Ra’am chairman Mansour Abbas, the Knesset’s Foreign Affairs and Defense Committee Chairman Ram Ben-Barak.

After meeting with the group on Friday, Herzog tweeted, “Bipartisanship is a sacred pillar of the US-Israel alliance. Delighted to welcome a delegation of US Democratic Senators to Jerusalem.

Earlier this week, Israeli Foreign Minister Lapid warned that restoring the de facto mission to Palestinians could tear apart Israel’s fragile coalition government.

“We think it’s a bad idea and we’ve told America we think it’s a bad idea,” Lapid said.

Lapid said the reopening “will send the wrong message, not only to the region, not only to the Palestinians, but also to other countries, and we don’t want this to happen.”

“And besides, we have an interesting yet delicate structure of our government and we think this might destabilize this government and I don’t think the American administration wants this to happen,” added the foreign minister, referring to the coalition that includes right-wing, centrists, left-wing and Arab parties.

In a statement responding to Lapid’s remarks, the US Embassy in Israel said, “the US will be moving forward with the process to reopen our consulate in Jerusalem.”