Friday, December 08, 2017

The State Department's Jerusalem - Then and Now

Remember this from June 8, 2015?

MR RATHKE: Not in the habit of doing victory dances. Go ahead, Matt.
QUESTION: Well, just – can you remind us all what city – or what the United States regards as the capital of Israel?
MR RATHKE: Well, since I think – to come to the – maybe the nub of the issue, since Israel’s founding, administrations of both parties have maintained a consistent policy of recognizing no state as having sovereignty over Jerusalem. So we remain committed to this longstanding policy, and this decision today helps ensure that our position on the neutrality of Jerusalem remains – it remains clear.
QUESTION: That applies to both West Jerusalem and East Jerusalem?
MR RATHKE: Again, no change to our policy to announce.
QUESTION: Well, but I mean the contested part of Jerusalem is just the east part. Not even the Palestinians claim the west part.
MR RATHKE: Again, Matt, I’ve got no change to our policy to announce.

What a difference. From yesterday's briefing:

MS NAUERT: Oh, I’m sorry. Matt, you can go ahead.QUESTION: I’ve got what are going to sound like a couple softballs, but they were questions that your predecessors and Heather’s predecessors weren’t able to answer very easily. So just bear with me. They’re two very brief ones.What is the capital of Israel?AMBASSADOR SATTERFIELD: The President announced yesterday, issued a proclamation declaring the United States recognizes Jerusalem as the capital of the state of Israel.QUESTION: So the answer to the question is Jerusalem, correct?AMBASSADOR SATTERFIELD: That’s exactly right.QUESTION: What country is Jerusalem in?AMBASSADOR SATTERFIELD: The President recognized Jerusalem as the capital of the state of Israel.

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1 comment:

sheldan said...

So the State Department, in order to maintain a policy that dates from 1947 that insisted that Jerusalem be called an "international area," performs this gymnastics in order to maintain the fiction that Jerusalem is not the capital of Israel?

This is ridiculous. The government is in Jerusalem. I think they will have to accept the reality sooner or later...