Israel Moving Embassy From DC To Mar-a-Lago

The move signals a new approach to Israel’s relations with all the countries who locate their embassies to Israel in Tel Aviv instead of Jerusalem.

Credit: Christine Davis, via Wikimedia Commons

Jerusalem, May 10 – Amid a frenzy of speculation whether President Donald Trump will authorize moving the US Embassy in Israel from Tel Aviv to the nation’s declared capital of Jerusalem, Israeli diplomats have upped the political ante by announcing that they are in the latter stages of authorizing a potential transfer of Israel’s embassy in the US capital to the Trump-owned country club of Mar-a-Lago in Florida, where he spends almost as much time as the White House.

Senior Foreign Ministry officials speaking on condition of anonymity disclosed to PreOccupied Territory that the diplomatic relationship between the two allied countries should be reciprocal, and that the move signals a new approach to Israel’s relations with all the countries who locate their embassies to Israel in Tel Aviv instead of Jerusalem.

“If the US would like to maintain its embassy to Israel elsewhere than our capital, we will feel free to do the same in return,” declared one official. “Since the current president spends so much of his time at Mar-a-Lago in any case, we do not anticipate the change in venue having an adverse effect on communication with the administration.”

A second official elaborated on the process underway. “We had a committee discuss potential alternative cities and sites for our embassy in the US,” she recounted. “New York obviously made the short list, given its centrality in US commerce, politics, and culture, but more important, it’s not the capital city. It would be the perfect analog to Tel Aviv in that respect. But although Mr. Trump hails from New York and is expected to return there with some frequency, in the end we deemed it more likely that the president will be in an accommodating mood when he relaxes at the Palm Beach retreat.”

The first official cautioned that while a decision whether to relocate the embassy will be made in the coming weeks, even a firm commitment to moving the facility might yet encounter significant obstacles. “Trump’s is the only place in the area where they even let Jews join a country club,” he observed. “I can’t imagine the various owners in Palm Beach being well-disposed toward selling property, or even renting it, to Israel, especially for purposes of engaging with the neighbor who has caused them so much trouble.”

He added that the Ministry is weighing a move of the London embassy to Manchester, Paris to Marseilles, and Canberra to Sydney, which everyone always thinks in the capital of Australia anyway.

Please support our work through Patreon.