Trump declines to move U.S. Embassy to Jerusalem
WASHINGTON — Step- ping back from a campaign promise and, in doing so, incurring Israeli ire, President Donald Trump acted Thursday to keep the U.S. Embassy in Israel in Tel Aviv for now instead of moving it to Jerusalem.
“President Trump made this decision to maximize the chances of successfully negotiating a deal between Israel and the Palestinians,” the White House statement said in a statement.
Still, the White House insisted Mr. Trump was merely delaying, not abandoning, his oft-cited pledge to relocate the embassy.
The decision is a blow to Israeli hard-liners, who support moving the embassy to Jerusalem, and their American backers. Israel considers the holy city to be its capital and insists the city must not be divided; Palestinians claim east Jerusalem as the capital for a future, independent state.
Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu’s office said Mr. Trump’s decision had damaged prospects for peace by preserving “the Palestinian fantasy that the Jewish people and the Jewish state have no connection to Jerusalem.”
Palestinian leaders cheered the move and said it improved the atmosphere for future negotiations by demonstrating Mr. Trump’s seriousness about the process.
Visa screening
Consular officers at U.S. embassies around the world have started more intensive vetting of some visa applicants, including asking for their social media handles, in an effort to block potential terrorists and other national security threats from entering the country.
The new, tougher scrutiny was rolled out in response to Mr. Trump’s March 6 memo mandating enhanced visa screening. It is authorized to remain in effect through November but is expected to be updated and made permanent.
The State Department estimates that about 65,000 of 13 million visa applicants every year could be subjected to the extra scrutiny.
Russia compounds
The Trump administration is moving toward handing back to Russia two diplomatic compounds — one near New York City and one on Maryland’s Eastern Shore — from which its officials were ejected in late December as punishment for Moscow’s interference in the 2016 presidential election.
Pressure on Congo
The U.S. imposed sanctions on Francois Olenga, the head of Congo’s Military House of the President, raising pressure on President Joseph Kabila’s government for a peaceful transition of power.
Economic sanctions
The U.S. Treasury Department said it was blacklisting six companies and three individuals for contributing to North Korea’s “development of weapons of mass destruction” and its continued violations of U.N. Security Council resolutions.