RJC Supports the Upholding the 1995 Jerusalem Embassy Law Act

Washington, DC -- The Republican Jewish Coalition strongly supports the Upholding the 1995 Jerusalem Embassy Law Act, which Senator Bill Hagerty (R-TN) and 34 Republican cosponsors introduced today.

RJC Executive Director Matt Brooks said:

The 1995 Jerusalem Embassy Law Act, which President Trump fully implemented when he moved our Embassy in Israel from Tel Aviv to Jerusalem, made it the policy of the United States that "Jerusalem should remain an undivided city.” Senator Hagerty’s bill upholds the law by preventing the Biden administration from taking an action that would lay the groundwork for a reversal, namely re-opening a US consulate for the Palestinians in Jerusalem.

If the Biden administration re-opens this diplomatic facility, it will be understood as a signal that the US expects that part of Jerusalem will be the capital of a future Palestinian state - and that Israel’s capital city will be divided. Congress should stand behind the commitment to an undivided Jerusalem that it made in 1995 and has reaffirmed repeatedly since then.

Israeli leaders in both the government and the opposition have made it clear that they strongly oppose the Biden administration's plan to re-open the consulate in Jerusalem. But left-wing members of Congress are encouraging President Biden to ignore those concerns, and Secretary of State Antony Blinken has insisted that plans to re-open the consulate must "move forward."

We urge President Biden, Secretary Blinken, and Democrats in Congress not to make yet another disastrous foreign policy decision and instead follow the lead of Senator Hagerty and others - Jerusalem should remain Israel’s undivided capital, full stop.