Trump denies embassy move to Jerusalem within the year

Trump denied Wednesday that the planned relocation of the US embassy in Israel to Jerusalem would take place within a year, a claim made by Israeli Prime Minister Binyamin Netanyahu.

MENA

1 min read

The New Arab

18 January, 2018

Trump's recognition of Jerusalem as Israel's capital triggered global outcry [Getty]

President Donald Trump denied on Wednesday that the planned relocation of the US embassy in Israel to Jerusalem would take place within a year, a claim made by Israeli Prime Minister Binyamin Netanyahu.

Trump told Reuters in an interview that was not the case. ”By the end of the year? We’re talking about different scenarios - I mean obviously that would be on a temporary basis. We’re not really looking at that. That’s no.“

Netanyahu, according to Israeli reporters travelling with him on a trip to India, had said on Wednesday: “My solid assessment is that it will go much faster than you think - within a year from now.”

Since Trump's controversial announcement on December 6, outlining his decision to move the US embassy from Tel Aviv to Jerusalem and officially recognising Jerusalem as the capital of Israel, angry protests have erupted worldwide.

Numerous violent episodes have also been sparked since then, in which sixteen Palestinians and an Israeli have been killed, and many more injured.

Fourteen of the Palestinians were killed in clashes, while two were killed in an Israeli airstrike on Gaza in response to rocket fire.