State Department Won’t Say Jerusalem is in Israel

It always amazing to see the United States State Department not be able to answer a simple question about Geography. When asked, and then even pressed, State Department spokesman Victoria Nuland refused to say that Jerusalem was the capital of Israel.

Nuland said in response to the question,

“We are not going to prejudge the outcome of those negotiations, including the final status of Jerusalem. Our policy with regard to Jerusalem is that it has to be solved through negotiations. That’s all I have to say on this issue,”

The press was obviously dumbfounded as even before the 1967 war, when Israel captured the eastern part of Jerusalem from Jordan, Jerusalem has always been the capital of the State of Israel. Nuland got really agitated when the press stayed on her on the subject saying,

“I don’t have anything further to what I’ve said 17 times on that subject. OK?”

The Washington Free Beacon story that highlighted the State Department’s refusal to list Jerusalem as part of Israel and the questions about Jerusalem to the State Department started because of the story.

Here’s the whole exchange:

Q: Yesterday there was a bit of a kerfuffle over an announcement that was made by the department about the travel of your boss. Is it the State Department’s position that Jerusalem is not part of Israel?

MS. NULAND: Well, you know that our position on Jerusalem has not changed. The first media note was issued in error, without appropriate clearances. We reissued the note to make clear that undersecretary, acting undersecretary for — our — Kathy Stevens will be traveling to Algiers, Doha, Amman, Tel Aviv and Jerusalem. With regard to our Jerusalem policy, it’s a permanent-status issue. It’s got to be resolved through the negotiations between the parties.