Wednesday, October 04, 2017
Elder of ZiyonThere seems to be a pattern.
The January 2017 newsletter of the US Embassy Tel Aviv, called the "Embassy Tel Aviv’s Consular Sun Times", says which US citizens go to which location for services:Welcome to Tel Aviv!
The American Citizen Services Unit of U.S. Embassy Tel Aviv provides information and assistance to all U.S. citizens residing in Israel.
U.S. citizens visiting or residing in Jerusalem, the West Bank, or Gaza should contact U.S. Consulate General Jerusalem for assistance.
The Consular Agency in Haifa is also available to provide services to residents and visitors in the Haifa area.
And it now says that all Israelis can go to the Jerusalem consulate for their services, not just those in Jerusalem and the West Bank:
American Citizen Services are available at three locations:
The U.S. Embassy in Tel Aviv;
the U.S. Consulate General in Jerusalem; and
the Consular Agency in Haifa.
All three locations stand ready to provide routine consular services, including notarial services and acceptance of applications for passports and Consular Reports of Birth Abroad. You are welcome to apply anywhere.
While this may be simple streamlining (notice how Haifa's consulate also seems to have added responsibilities), any way you look at it the Jerusalem consulate is taking on more responsibilities for US citizens in all of Israel (like Social Security) compared to what it did before. Also, the Jerusalem Consulate is more obviously connected to the US Embassy in Israel than it was before, when it acted essentially independently of Tel Aviv and was more oriented towards services to Palestinians.
There is a clear change of tone going on in the Jerusalem consulate as to its role.
(h/t Irene)
