By RAPHAEL
AHREN
US
President Donald Trump on Monday signed a presidential
waiver that suspends for six months a law
mandating the US embassy be moved from Tel Aviv
to Jerusalem — despite the fact that the embassy
officially opened in Jerusalem last month.
Trump’s
move was necessitated by the fact that the
ambassador’s official residence has not yet been
relocated to the capital.
“In addition to
requiring a move of the embassy, the Jerusalem
Embassy Act also requires a transfer of the chief
of mission residence. Until that transfer
is completed, the waiver that is provided under
the Act remains necessary,” a US
embassy official told The Times of Israel on
Tuesday.
Section 3 of
the Jerusalem Embassy
Act, which lays out
the actual policy change required, only states
that “the United States Embassy in Israel should
be established in Jerusalem.” But section 8
clarifies that “the term ‘United States Embassy’
means the offices of the United States
diplomatic mission and the residence of the
United States chief of mission.”
https://www.timesofisrael.com/despite-embassy-relocation-trump-signs-presidential-waiver/
5 June 2018, 3:28 pm