The biggest diplomatic spat between Israel and the U.S. in recent memory is brewing over the Biden administration\u2019s insistence on opening a consulate to conduct diplomatic relations with the Palestinian Authority and locating it in Israel\u2019s capital, Jerusalem. Despite vociferous Israeli protest, the State Department has repeatedly said it would push forward with opening a consulate anyway, and Secretary Antony Blinken will personally lead the effort.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
The U.S. Embassy to Israel is already in Jerusalem, and it has a consular department that provides services to Palestinians. Opening a separate, independent diplomatic mission would undermine a longstanding bipartisan policy of treating Jerusalem as the exclusive capital of Israel.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
The consulate plan is a way to undo in part President Trump\u2019s recognition of Jerusalem without paying the political price of fully repudiating a move that had broad support even among Democrats. Palestinian Prime Minister Mohammad Shtayyeh understands this and recently crowed that Mr. Blinken\u2019s consulate is a stepping stone to a recognition of Palestinian sovereignty in Jerusalem.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
Under settled international law, Israel\u2019s consent is required for any diplomatic mission to be opened on its territory. Prime Minister Naftali Bennett, Foreign Minister Yair Lapid and Justice Minister Gideon Saar have all forcefully rejected the idea, as has the opposition Likud party. Jerusalem is one of the few issues that unite Israelis across the political spectrum.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
The State Department won\u2019t take no for an answer. After Mr. Lapid made Israel\u2019s opposition clear, Mr. Blinken said: \u201cWe\u2019ll be moving forward with the process of opening a consulate as part of deepening of those ties with the Palestinians\u201d\u2014a clear d\u00e9marche to Jerusalem to acquiesce or face consequences. This contempt for Israel\u2019s government is extraordinary.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
When Mr. Trump in 2017 recognized Jerusalem as being in Israel and subsequently moved the U.S. Embassy there, he implemented the Jerusalem Embassy Act of 1995, enacted with massive bipartisan support. That put to rest an absurd and anachronistic U.S. policy that treated Jerusalem as not being located in Israel at all, a legacy of an abortive 1947 U.N. initiative to make it an \u201cinternational city.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n
The U.S. did have a consulate in Jerusalem before the embassy move, which was opened in 1844 during the Ottoman Empire. After the creation of the state of Israel, the consulate functioned separately from the embassy in Tel Aviv. The Trump administration closed the consulate in March 2019 because its existence was inconsistent with the recognition of Israeli sovereignty over Jerusalem.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
That\u2019s why anti-Israel radicals like Rep. Ilhan Omar are pushing hard for the new consulate: It would be a step back to the pre-recognition status quo. Another sign that this is about more than reorganizing diplomatic office space is that the consul general would report not to the U.S. ambassador in Jerusalem but directly to Foggy Bottom\u2014reinforcing the message that Jerusalem isn\u2019t really in Israel.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
The old consulate wasn\u2019t established as a mission to the Palestinians, while its potential successor comes with that explicit agenda. As the Israel Policy Forum, a liberal think tank, recently explained, opening the consulate would \u201creflect U.S. recognition of the Palestinian desire to have a capital there\u201d\u2014in Israel\u2019s capital.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
The old consulate never needed Israel\u2019s formal approval, as it predated the establishment of modern Israel. Now, Israel must agree. It fears that doing so would change the trajectory begun when the U.S. put its embassy in Jerusalem. Instead of countries taking America\u2019s lead, as some have already done, by opening diplomatic missions to Israel in Jerusalem, they would insist on opening two parallel missions. If Jerusalem becomes Ramallah\u2019s de facto Embassy Row, Israeli protests about their sole claim to the city would ring hollow.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
Mr. Blinken has indicated that he will redouble pressure on Israel in November, after some crucial votes\u2014Israel\u2019s passage of a budget and the Senate confirmation of Mr. Biden\u2019s ambassadorial nominee, Thomas Nides. Democrats previously insisted they weren\u2019t hostile to Israel, only to then-Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu. If that were true, they wouldn\u2019t seek to bully the centrist coalition that replaced him.<\/p>\n\n\n\n