Moving US embassy to Jerusalem will have ‘serious consequences,’ warns France

Moving the US embassy from Tel Aviv to Jerusalem, which is one of President-elect Donald Trump’s campaign promises, is a “provocation” that would result in “serious consequences,” warned France at yesterday’s peace summit in Paris.

Some seventy countries, including key European and Arab states as well as the permanent members of the UN Security Council, were in the French capital on Sunday for a meeting that Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu has rejected as “futile”. Britain attended as an “observer” but not a full participant.

Nevertheless, the summit just five days before Trump’s inauguration sent out a strong message, reaffirming the international consensus for a peace deal. Moreover, French Foreign Minister Jean-Marc Ayrault warned of “extremely serious consequences” if the US moves its embassy to Jerusalem as proposed, reported France 24.

Speaking to the French media, Ayrault said that he believed US President-elect Donald Trump would find it “impossible” to fulfil his campaign pledge to relocate the embassy. “When you are president of the United States, you cannot take such a stubborn and such a unilateral view on this issue. You have to try to create the conditions for peace,” the minister added.