Republican bill would bar US consulate for Palestinians
A prominent Israel-focused advocacy group has come out against the bill, and it is unclear if Democrats will sign on.
Dozens of Republican senators introduced legislation this week aimed at stopping the Biden administration’s plan to reopen a US consulate for Palestinians in Jerusalem.
Sen. Bill Hagerty of Tennessee introduced the Upholding the 1995 Jerusalem Embassy Law Act of 2021 on Tuesday, alongside Sen. Marco Rubio of Florida and 32 other Senate Republicans. The bill seeks to block US President Joe Biden’s plans to reopen a consulate to the Palestinian people in East Jerusalem by outlawing any funding for a US diplomatic facility in Jerusalem aside from the embassy to Israel.
“It is outrageous that the Biden Administration continues to voice support for reopening a consulate in Jerusalem, which calls into question its status as Israel’s capital,” said Rubio in a press release.
Former US President Donald Trump recognized Jerusalem as Israel’s capital in 2018, reversing decades of US policy. He moved the US embassy from Tel Aviv to Jerusalem to this end, and merged it with the US consulate to the Palestinian Territories that was already in the holy city. In doing so, Trump implemented a 1995 bill that recognized Jerusalem as Israel’s capital. Both Israelis and Palestinians envision Jerusalem as their capital, and the city has a mixed population of Jews, Arabs, Armenians and others.
