Earlier today, the White House released a transcript of President Obama’s remarks at the memorial service for Shimon Peres, which took place at the Mount Herzl cemetery in Jerusalem. Later, the White House sent out a “corrected” transcript that struck out the word “Israel” after “Jerusalem.” Here it is, courtesy of McClatchey:
McClatchey regards the “correction” as proper:
The White House forgot its own policy on Jerusalem Friday — at least temporarily.
The administration initially sent out a copy of President Barack Obama’s remarks at former Israeli Prime Minister Shimon Peres’ funeral in Jerusalem, indicating that the remarks had been given in Jerusalem, Israel. But later Friday afternoon, the press office sent out a correction to the previous email, striking out “Israel” from the header of the transcript.
Obama delivered the eulogy at Israeli national cemetery Mount Herzl.
U.S. policy has long refrained from recognizing any nation’s sovereignty over Jerusalem. Both Israelis and Palestinians claim Jerusalem as their capital, with Israel declaring in 1980 the city was its undivided capital. A 2015 Supreme Court decision reaffirmed U.S. practice that forbids Americans born in Jerusalem to list Israel as their country of birth on passports.
Peres was buried in the National Cemetery of Israel. The Israel Museum is in Jerusalem, and the Knesset, Israel’s parliament, is located in Jerusalem. How odd it would be if Israel’s national cemetery, seat of government and national museum were located in some other country!
For a brief moment, someone in the White House displayed common sense. But then the Obama administration’s foreign policy, in which common sense plays no part, re-asserted itself. Too bad.
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