White House, Romney at odds over Jerusalem as Israel’s capital

White House, Romney at odds over Jerusalem as Israel’s capital

White House deputy press secretary refutes Mitt Romney’s comments that Jerusalem is the capital of Israel: „That’s the position that’s been held by previous administrations, both Democratic and Republican” • Romney to CNN: „Jerusalem is Israel’s capital.”

Israel Hayom Staff
White House Deputy Press Secretary Josh Earnest: Romney is disagreeing with Reagan on the Jerusalem issue.

 
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Photo credit: AP

 

 
 
 
 
 
White House Deputy Press Secretary Josh Earnest: Romney is disagreeing with Reagan on the Jerusalem issue.

 
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Photo credit: AP

 

White House Deputy Press Secretary Josh Earnest on Monday said that presumptive Republican presidential candidate Mitt Romney’s comments about Jerusalem as Israel’s capital were in contradiction to previous administrations, „both Democratic and Republican.”

 

A reporter at a White House briefing session pushed Earnest on the issue of Romney’s Jerusalem comments, posing the question: „Governor Romney declared flatly that Jerusalem is the capital of Israel. And I’m wondering, what does the White House — does that undermine the administration’s position? Is that a comment that the administration would have preferred gone unsaid? How does the administration view that?”

 

In his response, Earnest said, „Well, our view is that that’s a different position than this administration holds. It’s the view of this administration that the capital is something that should be determined in final status negotiations between the parties. I’d remind you that that’s the position that’s been held by previous administrations, both Democratic and Republican. So if Mr. Romney disagrees with that position, he’s also disagreeing with the position that was taken by presidents like Bill Clinton and Ronald Reagan. So, again, if he does disagree with that position, I would leave it to him to explain it.”

 

Asked the administration’s position on Romney’s comments that culture is a factor that accounts for economic disparity between Israel and the Palestinian territory, Earnest responded that statement had left many “scratching their heads.”

 

„One of the challenges of being an actor on the international stage,” said Earnest, „particularly when you’re traveling to such a sensitive part of the world, is that your comments are very closely scrutinized for meaning, for nuance, for motivation. And it is clear that there are some people who have taken a look at those comments and are scratching their heads a little bit. But I would leave it to Governor Romney to further explain what he meant and what he intended when he said that.”

 

In an interview with CNN on Sunday, Romney said that if he wins the elections in November he would support moving the American embassy from its current location in Tel Aviv to Jerusalem.

 

„A nation has the capacity to choose its own capital city, and Jerusalem is Israel’s capital,” Romney told CNN’s Wolf Blitzer in an interview which aired Monday. „I think it’s long been the policy to ultimately have our embassy in the nation’s capital of Jerusalem.”

 

The timing of the move, Romney told CNN, would be made in consultation with Israel’s government.

 

„I would follow the same policy we have had in the past, our embassy would be in the capital, and the timing of that is something I would want to work out with the [Israeli] government,” Romney said.

 

The Jerusalem Embassy Act, passed by Congress in 1995, stipulates that the U.S. embassy in Israel must be moved from Tel Aviv to Jerusalem. Since passage, the law has never been implemented, because of opposition from Presidents Clinton, Bush, and Obama, who view it as a congressional infringement on the executive branch’s constitutional authority over foreign policy. They have consistently exercised presidential authority to waive the law based on national security interests.