Bennet Pledges To Keep US Embassy In Jerusalem, Dodges Question On Golan Heights

JERUSALEM (JNS) Sen. Michael Bennet (D-Colo.), who is running for the 2020 Democratic presidential nomination, said on Monday that, if elected, the U.S. embassy in Israel would remain in Jerusalem.

“I would keep the embassy in Jerusalem, although I think the terms of that should have been part of the negotiated two-state solution even though Jerusalem has always been the capital of Israel,” he said in response to a question from JNS at a press conference prior to his remarks at the annual J Street conference.

Bennet declined to answer when asked by JNS whether or not he would keep U.S. President Donald Trump’s recognition in March of Israel’s sovereignty over the Golan Heights.

Trump moved the U.S. embassy in Israel from Tel Aviv to Jerusalem in May 2018.

In addition to Bennet, other candidates who said that, if elected, they wouldn’t move the embassy back to Tel Aviv include South Bend, Ind. Mayor Pete Buttigieg; spiritual guru and author Marianne Williamson; Sen. Amy Klobuchar (D-Minn.); and Montana Gov. Steve Bullock.

Former U.S. Rep. Joe Sestak (D-Pa.), on the other hand, would move the U.S. embassy back to Tel Aviv.

Along with Bennet, Buttigieg, Klobuchar and former U.S. Secretary of Housing and Urban Development Julian Castro have addressed this year’s J Street conference. Sen. Bernie Sanders (I-Vt.) is scheduled to address the event Monday afternoon.

They’re all being interviewed by the hosts of the weekly podcast “Pod Save the World,” Vietor and former U.S. Deputy National Security Advisor for Strategic Communications Ben Rhodes to “discuss the future of the U.S.-Israel relationship, their visions for resolving the Israeli-Palestinian conflict, their plans to combat the growing threat of white supremacy and more,” according to an email from J Street ahead of the conference.

The conference concludes on Tuesday, when participants will lobby J Street’s agenda on Capitol Hill.