President Donald Trump announced on Wednesday that the US will recognize Jerusalem as the capital of Israel and that he will move the American embassy there once a location is secured, the New York Post reported.
“I have determined that it is time to officially recognize Jerusalem as the capital of Israel. I’ve judged this course of action to be in the best interest of the United States of America and the pursuit of peace between Israel and the Palestinians,” he said from the White House.
The president said that since 1995, when Congress passed the Jerusalem Embassy Act, his predecessors had delayed implementing the act because of fears that it would harm efforts to achieve a peace agreement in the Middle East.
But, he added, “after more than two decades of waivers, we are no closer to a lasting peace agreement between Israel and the Palestinians. It would be folly to assume that repeating the exact same formula would now produce a different or better result.”
The move broke with longtime US policy and, according to numerous world leaders, potentially threatened regional stability.