Under the Jerusalem Embassy Act of 1995, which was signed by President Clinton, the president must certify to Congress every six months that it is in the U.S. national interest to keep the U.S Embassy in Tel Aviv, rather than in the disputed city of Jerusalem. In recent months, aides have persuaded him to delay a move to minimize the potentially disastrous impact on U.S. interests in the Middle East. Aides are preparing a speech about Israel for Trump to deliver next week and he may use it to make a strong pronouncement about Jerusalem being the capital of Israel. Even before Israel was established 70 years ago, Jewish leaders have envisioned Jerusalem as their “eternal and undivided” capital. In 1967, Israel fought Arab states in what came to be known in the West as the Middle East War, or the Six-Day War.

Source: Los Angeles Times November 30, 2017 20:26 UTC