He might feel like the first Jewish president, but President Obama still won’t recognize Jerusalem as the capital of Israel.
Mr. Obama issued a memorandum Wednesday that will keep the U.S. Embassy in Tel Aviv, rather than comply with a 1995 law approved by Congress to move the embassy to Jerusalem.
Jerusalem is the capital of Israel, but the U.S. and other countries maintain their embassies in Tel Aviv because of opposition from Palestinians, many of whom also want Jerusalem to become their capital city.
The Jerusalem Embassy Act of 1995 said that the U.S. Embassy should be moved to Jerusalem by May 1999. But Presidents Clinton, George W. Bush and Obama have implemented waivers of the law at six-month intervals ever since it was passed.
In an interview with Israeli television this week, former Obama adviser David Axelrod said Mr. Obama once confided to him that he felt he was “the closest thing to a Jew that has ever sat” in the Oval Office.
• Dave Boyer can be reached at dboyer@washingtontimes.com.
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