Donald Trump said he would move the U.S. Embassy to Jerusalem.
“They want it in Jerusalem,” the front-runner among Republican presidential candidates said in an interview posted Jan. 19 by “The Brody File,” a Christian Broadcasting Network show. “Well, I am for that 100 percent. We are for that 100 percent.”
David Brody, the CBN journalist, had asked Trump whether he agreed with GOP rivals, including Sens. Ted Cruz, R-Texas, and Marco Rubio, R-Fla., who have pledged to move the embassy from Tel Aviv to Jerusalem once elected.
Trump’s agreement seemed to be an about-face from remarks in December at the Republican Jewish Coalition, when the real estate magnate refused to commit to recognizing Jerusalem as Israel’s undivided capital.
Congress passed a law in 1995 mandating the move of the embassy to Jerusalem, but allowed the president a waiver. Each president since then has routinely exercised the waiver, citing the national security interests of the United States. — jta