Foreign Minister Yair Lapid said on Wednesday said that the reopening of the US consulate in Jerusalem is a “bad idea” and could destabilize Israel’s new government.

“We think this is a bad idea and told the U.S. as much,” he said at a press briefing. “The consulate has been there for 130 years and reopening it after it was closed sends the wrong message.”

“Jerusalem is the sovereign capital of Israel and Israel alone, and therefore we don’t think it’s a good idea,” Lapid continued. “We know that the (Biden) administration has a different way of looking at this, but since it’s happening in Israel, we are sure they are listening to us very carefully.”

“We have an interesting yet delicate structure of our government and we think this might destabilize this government and I don’t think the American administration wants this to happen,” he added.

“I am a devoted believer in the two-state solution … but we’ll have to admit the fact this is not feasible in the current situation,” Lapid concluded.

The US consulate, which served as the de facto mission to the Palestinians, was closed by former US President Donald Trump in 2019. After President Joe Biden entered office, he announced his intention to reopen the consulate as part of his plan to restore ties with the Palestinians.

Biden told Prime Minister Naftali Bennett last week during their meeting in the US that he still plans to reopen the consulate.

Israelis are adamantly opposed to the move as after the US embassy was moved from Tel Aviv to Jerusalem by the Trump administration, confirming its status as Israel’s capital, reopening the consulate indicates a US recognition of the Palestinians’ false claim to Jerusalem as their capital.

There is not one capital in the world where the US has both an embassy and a consulate so reopening the consulate would be quite a politically significant move.

No Israeli government has ever allowed a diplomatic mission to a foreign entity to be opened in Jerusalem. But FM @yairlapid's opposition to @POTUS's demand for Palestinian consulate is even more forceful and unequivocal than Netanyahu's was.

— Eugene Kontorovich (@EVKontorovich) September 1, 2021

(YWN Israel Desk – Jerusalem)