Following an urgent meeting of the Jerusalem Municipality’s Building and Planning Committee on Wednesday, a new US embassy building in Jerusalem was approved as well as the expansion of the existing site.

The committee members convened following pressure from the Prime Minister’s Office in an apparent effort to ensure the US embassy’s move to Jerusalem from Tel Aviv is permanent prior to Biden taking office in less than a week.

The plans include the expansion of the current embassy site in the Arnona neighborhood, where it was established following the transfer of the US embassy from Tel Aviv to Jerusalem in 2018, as well as the construction of a new embassy building nearby on Rechov Derech Chevron.

It should be mentioned that the recently deceased Sheldon Adelson, a’h, who gave millions to President Donald Trump for his presidential campaign, urged him to move the embassy to Jerusalem and was sitting in the front row during its inauguration in the capital city in May 2018. Furthermore, shortly before his death, Adelson purchased the US ambassador’s official residence near Tel Aviv for $67 million, the most costly residence every sold in Israel, in an apparent effort to ensure the move cannot be reversed.

That being said, President-elect Joe Biden has said he does not plan on moving the embassy back to Tel Aviv.

(YWN Israel Desk – Jerusalem)