U.S. May Speed Up Jerusalem Embassy Move to as Early as 2019
- Trump was briefed on a plan to use the current consulate
- Official says new embassy would cost too much, take too long
Two persons watch the sun setting on the Old City of Jerusalem, with the Muslim mosque of the Dome of the Rock in the center, on Jan. 23, 2017.
Photographer: Thomas Coex/AFP via Getty Images
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The Trump administration accelerated its timetable for moving the U.S. embassy to Jerusalem, weighing a plan to retrofit the existing consulate there by the end of 2019 in order to fulfill a key campaign pledge by the president.
Building a new embassy would have taken too long and is “cost-prohibitive” so “we’re going to retrofit an existing facility,” Steve Goldstein, the undersecretary of state for public diplomacy, said in a phone interview.