Posted on 11/21/21
| News Source: NY Post
President Biden faces growing and bipartisan opposition to his plan to reopen a US consulate to the Palestinians in Jerusalem.
The consulate was shuttered in 2019 by former President Trump after the US embassy in Israel was relocated from Tel Aviv to Jerusalem. Biden vowed to reopen the consulate in order to appease progressives.
The old consulate building on Gerson Agron Street is just a few miles from the relocated US embassy.
But pro-Israel lawmakers on both sides of the aisle are balking.
“Any new diplomatic facility must be agreed to by Israel. The U.S. has never opened a diplomatic office without the approval of the host government, and to do so in Israel would create a double standard,” Rep. Josh Gottheimer (D-New Jersey) warned in a statement this week.
He joined Rep. Juan Vargas (D-California), who has also urged Biden to pump the brakes unless Israel gave the green light for an American consulate to Palestine on its land.