Move the U.S. Embassy to Jerusalem!

(It is so simple—and it will put President Trump in history books!)

The Jerusalem Embassy Act of 1995 is a public law of the United States passed by the 104th Congress on October 23, 1995. It was passed for the purposes of initiating and funding the relocation of the Embassy of the United States in Israel from Tel Aviv to Jerusalem, no later than May 31, 1999.

The act also called for Jerusalem to remain an undivided city and for it to be recognized as the capital of the State of Israel.

The proposed law was adopted by the Senate (93–5), and the House (374–37).

Since passage, the law has never been implemented, because of opposition from Presidents Clinton, Bush, and Obama, who view it as a Congressional infringement on the executive branch’s constitutional authority over foreign policy; they have consistently claimed the presidential waiver on national security interests.

Advocacy for the Jerusalem Embassy Act asserted that every country has a right to designate the capital of its choice, and that Israel has designated Jerusalem. The act notes that “the city of Jerusalem is the seat of Israel’s President, Parliament, and Supreme Court, and the site of numerous government ministries and social and cultural institutions.” Jerusalem is defined as the spiritual center of Judaism. Furthermore, it stipulates that since the reunification of Jerusalem in 1967, religious freedom has been guaranteed to all.

Since 1998, the relocation of the embassy from Tel Aviv has been suspended by the sitting president semi-annually based on national security concerns. Obama issued his last waiver in June, following in the footsteps of predecessors Bill Clinton and George W. Bush. (Will President Obama do it again in January, or chose to make history? The question we must ask now will President Trump join the ranks of hypocritical and anti-Semitic U.S. presidents, who served before him, or will be true to his word and make the history by moving the U.S. embassy to Jerusalem?)

Steven Shamrack is executive editor of the news website http://www.shamrak.com.