The saga surrounding the relocation of the U.S. Embassy from Tel Aviv to Jerusalem continued Tuesday as reports emerged that high-ranking U.S. officials were urging the White House not to recognize Jerusalem as the capital of Israel. During his campaign, U.S. President Donald Trump vowed to relocate the American Embassy from Tel Aviv, where it currently resides, to Jerusalem -- a move that would be interpreted as an official acknowledgement of Jerusalem as the capital of Israel. According to CNN, officials at the U.S. State Department, U.S. Defense Department and the U.S. intelligence community warned the White House that recognizing Jerusalem as Israel's capital would be "harmful to the peace process and carry broader regional risks." The warning echoed sentiments coming from within the White House as well as those of Gulf states and Arab diplomats who have voiced similar concerns to Trump and his administration in the past. Despite the warnings, CNN reports, several top Trump advisers have encouraged the American president to make good on his campaign promise and announce the relocation during his upcoming visit to Israel. Sources in the White House assured CNN that Trump had not yet made a final decision on the issue. In Jerusalem, meanwhile, officials vehemently rejected reports that Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu had tried to dissuade Trump from relocating the embassy. "It is a complete lie," officials said. Fox News correspondent Conor Powell had tweeted: "Everyone I've spoken to in D.C. that has been briefed on #Jerusalem embassy move says #Netanyahu told #Trump not to move embassy at this time." Deviating from protocol, the Prime Minister's Office responded by releasing quotes from a summary of Netanyahu's private meeting with Trump in mid-February, recorded by former acting head of the National Security Council, Jacob Nagel. "The prime minister was asked about the embassy and explained [that moving it] would not lead to bloodshed in the region, as some were trying to intimidate [President Trump] into believing," Nagel wrote in his summary. In a summary of a Jan. 16, 2017 meeting between Israeli Ambassador to the United States Ron Dermer and Michael Flynn, who later was appointed U.S. national security adviser, Nagel said, "[Dermer] explained why moving the embassy would help advance peace and not the opposite. This would send the message that we are in Jerusalem to stay. Moving the embassy would force the other side to contend with the lie they've constructed -- that Israel has no connection to Jerusalem -- and will cause them to understand that Israel will be here forever with Jerusalem as its capital." "This is the clear and consistent position of Prime Minister Netanyahu, which he reiterated today," the Prime Minister's Office said. Netanyahu also addressed this issue at the start of a Likud faction meeting in the Knesset on Monday: "I heard what Secretary of State [Rex] Tillerson said. My consistent and unequivocal position is that the U.S. Embassy should move to Jerusalem, and this is what the other embassies should do as well. I presented my position in my meetings with leaders of the U.S. and the world, with the State of Israel's entire diplomatic corps and just recently at the Likud office. Not only will moving the embassy not harm the peace process, but the opposite is true: It will encourage it, because it will correct a historical injustice and shatter the Palestinian illusion that Jerusalem is not the capital of Israel. This is my position, it's clear to everyone, it didn't change and it will not, either." "We are facing a historical visit by the U.S. president to Israel. This is a very important visit for the security of Israel, for our international standing. We will lead this important effort out of deep friendship to the U.S. and the president, and out of experience, determination and standing firm on the interests crucial to the State of Israel," Netanyahu said.
