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| US consulate annex, Jerusalem |
JTA has an article interviewing various Zionists about the idea of billionaire Sheldon Adelson funding, or partially funding, the building of a new US Embassy building in Jerusalem.
The people interviewed, who all strongly support the embassy move, are unanimously against private funding for the building. One example:
I agree. Already Arab media is using the Adelson story to make it look like it is rich US Jews who are influencing the administration's policies.
Morton Klein, the president of the Zionist Organization of America, who is close to Adelson, referred to AP’s reporting that Adelson might seek other funders, including among pro-Israel Christians.
“This is a United States government project and policy, I don’t think it should be ‘the evangelicals, the Jews made this happen.’ It should be crystal clear the U.S. government made this happen,” he said. “I don’t think it’s a good idea for any private citizen to pay for the U.S. Embassy to be moved.”
The positive impact of the US decision to move the embassy is precisely because it was made by the US government, not because there were special interests involved. If other countries will follow the same path and open their own embassies in Jerusalem, it will be because the US led the way as the moral and correct move - and if that fact is tainted by the idea that it was only supported by an influential interest group, it will dilute the effect of the embassy move. It will no longer look like the US is doing it because it is the right thing to do, but because rich Jews influenced the US to do so.
The people interviewed did point out that the US accepts private funding for specific embassy events, as well as for artwork that is displayed there. Adelson can happily bankroll bringing in American artists to spread American culture, something embassies and consulates do all the time.