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Netanyahu expects more Jerusalem Embassy moves

[ssba]

Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu says he is in contact with other countries that want to recognise Jerusalem as Israel’s capital and move their embassies.

Speaking at a Foreign Ministry diplomatic conference yesterday, he said: “We are holding contacts with other countries who will also recognise Jerusalem as Israel’s capital. I have no doubt that when the US Embassy will move there, and even before that, many embassies will relocate to Jerusalem. It’s about time.”

Israeli officials said yesterday that both the Czech Republic and the Philippines were eager to move their embassies from Tel Aviv to Jerusalem and that Hungary could make a similar announcement.

Palestinian Authority (PA) President Mahmoud Abbas met with Jordan’s King Abdullah II in Amman yesterday to coordinate their response to US President Donald’s Trump’s recognition of Jerusalem as Israel’s capital. Abbas also spoke to Hamas Political Bureau Director Ismail Haniyeh, who later said in a statement that “the American decision is a declaration of war. We will take action to ignite an Intifada against the Zionist enemy”. Haniyeh warned that “Trump will regret this decision. There will be no escape for Netanyahu and his Government from the wrath of our people and our nation”.

In a televised speech in Lebanon, Hezbollah leader Hassan Nasrallah urged Palestinian “resistance”. He said: “We support the call for a new Palestinian intifada (uprising) and escalating the resistance which is the biggest, most important and gravest response to the American decision.”

Senior Fatah official Jibril Rajoub said that US Vice President Mike Pence will be “unwelcome in Palestine”. The Vice President is due to travel to Israel and the West Bank next week and PA officials have said Abbas will not meet with him as planned in Bethlehem on 19 December.

Joint List Members of Knesset said they intended to boycott the Vice President’s speech to the Knesset on 18 December. Jamal Zahalka MK said: “I will do this to protest the hostile American position vis-à-vis the Palestinian people and its rights.”