III
117th CONGRESS
2d Session
S. CON. RES. 34
IN THE SENATE OF THE UNITED STATES
March 22, 2022
Mr. Lee (for himself, Mr. Cassidy, Mr. Braun, Mr. Scott of Florida, Mrs. Hyde-Smith, Ms. Ernst, Mr. Daines, Mr. Cramer, Mr. Marshall, Mr. Hoeven, Mrs. Blackburn, and Mr. Boozman) submitted the following concurrent resolution; which was referred to the Committee on Foreign Relations
CONCURRENT RESOLUTION
To express the sense of Congress in opposition to the establishment of a new Palestinian consulate or diplomatic mission in Jerusalem.
Whereas the United States recognizes sovereign nations’ authority to designate their own capitals;
Whereas Jerusalem has served as the diplomatic capital of Israel for decades and has remained the cultural center of Israel and of the Jewish people for millennia;
Whereas large, bipartisan supermajorities in the Senate and the House of Representatives voted for the Jerusalem Embassy Act of 1995 (Public Law 104–45), which states, as the policy of the United States—
Jerusalem should remain an undivided city
;
Jerusalem should be recognized as the capital of the State of Israel
; and
the United States Embassy in Israel should be established in Jerusalem
;
Whereas, in 2018, the Trump administration relocated the United States Embassy in Israel to Jerusalem in accordance with the Jerusalem Embassy Act of 1995;
Whereas the Biden administration’s plan to open a Palestinian consulate in Jerusalem could be viewed as a challenge to—
Israel’s sovereignty over Jerusalem; and
Jerusalem’s status as an undivided city;
Whereas such plan has received bipartisan criticism among members of the Government of the United States and the Government of Israel;
Whereas the United States Embassy in Jerusalem’s Palestinian Affairs Unit already manages, in a timely and effective manner, the proposed responsibilities of the Biden administration’s planned Palestinian consulate in Jerusalem; and
Whereas the opening and maintenance of a new and unnecessary consulate in Jerusalem would require a substantial expenditure of American taxpayer funds: Now, therefore, be it
That it is the sense of Congress that—
Congress opposes the establishment of a new Palestinian consulate in Jerusalem;
establishing such a consulate would violate the intent of the Jerusalem Embassy Act of 1995;
any establishment of a new consulate or diplomatic mission in Jerusalem should not move forward without congressional approval through the passage of new legislation; and
the presence of a United States diplomatic mission devoted to a non-state actor in Israel’s sovereign capital would be an affront to the territorial integrity of a long-standing United States partner and ally.