WASHINGTON — President Donald Trump is preparing to formally declare Jerusalem the capital of Israel and order a review of the best way to move the U.S. Embassy from Tel Aviv, two officials said Thursday, actions that would reverse decades of U.S. policy and international peacemaking efforts, and could inflame the Arab world.
The White House hosted a high-level meeting Monday to discuss plans for transferring the embassy to the ancient holy city and to discuss a deadline today that requires the administration to notify Congress every six months if it will order the move — or issue a waiver, as previous administrations have done.
To the surprise of senior officials in attendance, Trump crashed the meeting with his own detailed agenda, according to a person familiar with White House deliberations.
A scheduled 30-minute meeting on waiving the 1995 law that requires the U.S. to move the embassy stretched to two hours, and Trump stayed for nearly half of that. He asked detailed questions, saying delaying the move indefinitely was unacceptable, and demanded options other than issuing a waiver.
Under the Jerusalem Embassy Act of 1995, which was signed by President Bill Clinton, the president must certify to Congress every six months that it is in the U.S. national interest to keep the U.S. Embassy in Tel Aviv, rather than in the disputed city of Jerusalem. Every president since Clinton has done so.
Trump is likely to issue a waiver again today, but order a review of moving the embassy with the intention of eventually doing so, said the official familiar with the deliberations.
In recent months, aides have persuaded him to delay a move to minimize the potentially disastrous effect on U.S. interests in the Middle East.
A final decision has not been made, however. Aides are preparing a speech about Israel for Trump to deliver next week, and he may use it to make a strong pronouncement about Jerusalem being the capital of Israel.
Trump vowed on the campaign trail last year to move the embassy to Jerusalem, and Vice President Mike Pence renewed speculation on Tuesday when he said in New York that Trump is “actively considering when and how” to do so.
White House press secretary Sarah Huckabee Sanders said Wednesday that it was “premature” to discuss a decision on declaring Jerusalem the capital. Another White House official, speaking on condition of anonymity, said Thursday that Trump “has always said it is a matter of when, not if. The president is still considering options, and we have nothing to announce.”
