Joe Biden said he would not reverse President Trump’s decision to move the U.S. Embassy in Israel from Tel Aviv to Jerusalem if elected to the White House.
During a virtual fundraising event on Wednesday, the presumptive Democratic presidential nominee said he disagreed with Trump’s initial decision to relocate the diplomatic mission but pointed out that moving it back would not further U.S. interests for peace in the region.
“Moving the embassy when we did without the conditions having been met was short-sighted and frivolous,” Biden said. “It should have happened in the context of a larger deal to help us achieve important concessions for peace in the process.”
“But now that it’s done, I would not move the embassy back to Tel Aviv,” the former vice president added.
Jerusalem was formally recognized by the United States as Israel’s capital during Trump’s first year in office. The embassy in Jerusalem was opened in 2018. The decision to relocate the embassy was met with plaudits by many Israeli officials but was strongly rebuked by Palestinians.
Biden’s fiercest competitor during the 2020 Democratic presidential primaries was Bernie Sanders, an independent senator from Vermont, who has long affiliated himself with socialism. Sanders’s policy regarding the embassy was not fully solidified, although he said he would consider moving it back to Tel Aviv, a stark difference between himself and many others formerly vying for the Democratic nomination.
Sanders, who is Jewish, has called Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu a “reactionary racist” and signaled that if elected, he would work more toward engaging with the Palestinians. He also refused to attend the annual bipartisan American Israel Public Affairs Committee and said it was a platform “for leaders who express bigotry.” He received pushback from both Israel and the U.S. Jewish community for those remarks.
Trump has frequently touted the decision as a feather in his hat regarding U.S. foreign policy. In a Wednesday letter to Netanyahu and President Reuven Rivlin, Trump highlighted the embassy.
“Exactly seven decades to the day after Prime Minister [David] Ben-Gurion declared Israel’s independence, Israel and the United States shared another historic moment when the United States opened its embassy in Israel’s capital city, Jerusalem,” Trump wrote in a letter celebrating Israel’s Independence Day.
Also, during Wednesday’s online event, Biden explained that he is a supporter of a “two-state solution” in the Levant and that he would reopen a consulate in east Jerusalem to better engage Palestinians and work toward peace.
“I’ve been a proud supporter of a secure, democratic Jewish state of Israel my entire life,” Biden said. “My administration will urge both sides to take steps to keep the prospect of a two-state solution alive.”
