The National Council of Young Israel (NCYI) today praised Republican Presidential candidate Newt Gingrich for his pledge to move the U.S. embassy in Israel to Jerusalem in the event that he becomes President of the United States.  If elected President, Gingrich committed that he would issue an executive order on his first day in office directing that the U.S. embassy in Israel be relocated from Tel Aviv to Jerusalem.

Gingrich has stated his commitment to move the embassy to Jerusalem on a number of occasions, most recently during an appearance last week on “Hannity,” a nationally-syndicated television show on Fox News Channel that is hosted by renowned commentator Sean Hannity.  In a speech to the Republican Jewish Coalition this past June, Gingrich forcefully declared that moving the embassy to Jerusalem is long overdue.

“The United States should move the American embassy in Israel to Jerusalem,” Gingrich said to the Republican Jewish Coalition in June.  “Israel has every right as a sovereign free nation to choose its own capital and we should respect that choice.  As President, on my first day in office, I would issue an executive order directing the U.S. embassy in Israel to be moved to Jerusalem as provided for in the legislation I introduced in Congress in 1995.”

“The National Council of Young Israel wholeheartedly supports Mr. Gingrich’s repeated calls for the American Embassy in Israel to be moved to Jerusalem,” said NCYI President Shlomo Z. Mostofsky.  “By taking a strong and unequivocal position on the subject and ensuring that this critical issue remains at the forefront, Mr. Gingrich offers a stark reminder about the importance of Jerusalem and the critical need to take definitive steps to give Jerusalem the legitimacy it deserves as the sovereign capital of the State of Israel.”

“The United States’ repeated failure to relocate its embassy in Israel sends a disturbing message to the world about its stance on the future of Jerusalem,” continued Mostofsky.  “As the international community continues to find ways to skirt the issue of Jerusalem’s future, Mr. Gingrich’s willingness to tackle this issue head-on by committing to move the embassy to its rightful place in Jerusalem is admirable and demonstrates his keen understanding of the historical significance of Jerusalem as the eternal capital of Israel.”

Gingrich, a former Georgia congressman who served as Speaker of the House of Representatives, was the prime sponsor of the Jerusalem Embassy Act of 1995, which called for Jerusalem to be recognized as the capital of the State of Israel, and which mandated that the U.S. embassy in Israel should be constructed in Jerusalem.

Although the 1995 Jerusalem Embassy Law required that the embassy be moved to Jerusalem, there was a presidential waiver included in the legislation, which enabled U.S. Presidents to avoid having to move the embassy to the Israeli capital based on national security reasons.  That waiver has been used by United States Presidents for the past 16 years to prevent the American embassy from being relocated to Jerusalem.

This past March, even before he declared his candidacy for president, Newt Gingrich made a speech to the Iowa Faith and Freedom Coalition, in which he called on the next president to issue an executive order on the very first day in office which requires the U.S. State Department to recognize Jerusalem as Israel’s capital city, and to relocate the American embassy in Israel from Tel Aviv to Jerusalem.

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