Democratic lawmakers are at odds about whether the president should declare Jerusalem as Israel’s capital, a recognition he is expected to make Wednesday.
The Senate’s top Democrat, Minority Leader Chuck Schumer, told THE WEEKLY STANDARD Tuesday that he had advised Trump to declare Jerusalem as Israel’s “undivided” capital.
The capital declaration could come around the same time as an announcement about relocating the U.S. Embassy from Tel Aviv to Jerusalem, a move that Trump deferred six months ago by issuing a waiver.
A 1995 law declares that Jerusalem should “remain an undivided city” and “be recognized as the capital of the State of Israel,” but allows the president to issue waivers every six months delaying the move of the embassy for national security reasons. The Senate reaffirmed that law in June.
Schumer in October called on Trump to move the U.S. Embassy and argued that doing so would “show the world that the U.S. definitively acknowledges Jerusalem as Israel’s capital.”
Maryland senator Ben Cardin, the top Democrat on the Foreign Relations Committee, reiterated his support for recognizing Jerusalem when asked Monday about the president’s potential announcement.
“I believe that Jerusalem is the capital of Israel, so to me, that’s not news,” he told TWS. Cardin added that Trump needs to make that announcement “in a way that advances Israel’s security and peace in the region.”
But a number of other Democrats are worried that Trump’s recognition of Jerusalem could undermine potential peace negotiations and trigger violence.
New Jersey senator Cory Booker said both the capital and embassy issues should be “part of a larger peace process.”
“It should be part of negotiations for eventual final status,” Booker told TWS. “We need to be working towards peace in that region.”
California senator Dianne Feinstein wrote to Trump on Friday warning him that declaring Jerusalem the capital would “undermine any remaining hope for a two-state solution.”
“Recognizing Jerusalem as Israel’s capital—or relocating our embassy to Jerusalem—will spark violence and embolden extremists on both sides of this debate,” she said.
Connecticut senator Richard Blumenthal told TWS Monday that he’s generally been an advocate of recognizing Jerusalem as Israel’s capital. But he raised questions about the timing of the president’s potential announcement.
“I would like to hear what the rationale is for doing it now, as opposed to including it in negotiation,” he said.
Blumenthal added that important features of the potential decision are still unclear, such as “whether he’s actually going to move the embassy, whether he’s going to recognize all of Jerusalem, or just the western part of it.” “The details matter,” he said.
Democratic whip Dick Durbin expressed concerns about the repercussions of the potential announcement.
“I hope that this does not incite violence and death,” he said. “I can’t tell you what precautions he has taken before he would make such an announcement.”
Trump issued a waiver and deferred the embassy move six months ago, but missed a deadline to issue another waiver in recent days. If he does not issue a waiver or move the embassy, the State Department would face major embassy funding cuts.
Defense Secretary James Mattis and Secretary of State Rex Tillerson have reportedly argued for issuing the waiver.
The potential announcement is also seeing some international opposition. French president Emmanuel Macron warned him Monday that Jerusalem’s status has to “be dealt with in the framework of peace negotiations between Israelis and Palestinians.”
The Saudi ambassador to Washington also said Monday that “any U.S. announcement on the status of Jerusalem prior to a final settlement would have a detrimental impact on the peace process.”
Palestinian officials, who hope to claim East Jerusalem, have strongly hazarded that recognizing Jerusalem as Israel’s capital would put an end to peace negotiations.
“Any American step related to the recognition of Jerusalem as capital of Israel, or moving the U.S. Embassy to Jerusalem, represents a threat to the future of the peace process and is unacceptable for the Palestinians,” said Palestinian president Mahmoud Abbas.
