Haley: Western Wall part of Israel, US embassy should move to Jerusalem

The US Envoy to the UN made the two remarkable statement supporting Israel's sovereignty over the Western Wall as well as the embassy move in an interview with CBN News on Tuesday.

By TOVAH LAZAROFF
Updated: MAY 17, 2017 13:04
Nikki Haley (photo credit: REUTERS)
Nikki Haley
(photo credit: REUTERS)
The Western Wall is part of Israel, US Ambassador to the UN Nikkey Haley said on Tuesday as she took a number of stands that appears to differ from the Trump Administration.
“The Western Wall is part of Israel and I think that is how we have always seen it and that is how we should pursue it,” Haley told the Christian Broadcasting Network in a video interview.
“I am not real sure what happened with that issue,” she added.
“I know that they are trying to fix that and get that taken care of, we have always thought the Western Wall was part of Israel,” Haley said.

But in Washington when pressed on the matter, White House Press Secretary Sean Spicer struck a different tone.
“The Western Wall is obviously one of the holiest sites in Jewish faith. It’s clearly in Jerusalem," he told reporters. 
“It’s an issue that's had serious consideration. It will be a topic that's going to be discussed during the President’s trip between the parties that he meets with.
Nikki Haley discusses US commitment to two-state solution on Feb. 16, 2017 (credit: REUTERS)
“I think this stems from a comment that was made yesterday and which was not the policy of the United States,” Spicer said.
He spoke one day after two US officials in Jerusalem reportedly told Israelis that the Western Wall was in the West Bank and was, therefore, not under Israeli sovereignty.
US National Security Advisor H.R. McMaster also had difficulty at a White House press briefing when asked, “Does the President believe that the Western Wall is part of Israel?”
He was pressed on that point twice and ducked it both times.
When briefing reporters on Trump’s visit to Jerusalem next week, McMaster made no mention of whether Trump would make use of the visit to announce the relocation of the US Embassy from Jerusalem to Tel Aviv.
Trump had promised to do so during his campaign for office, but has yet to make good on that pledge.
Haley told CBN that she believed he should act on the matter.
“The capital should be Jerusalem and the embassy should be moved to Jerusalem, because [Israel’s] government is in Jerusalem. So much of what goes on is in Jerusalem. We have to see that for what it is. The tricky part is where the Palestinians come in on this and where the Israelis comes in on this,” Haley said.
“We know the Israelis do not want to give on Jerusalem at all and we have to see how strong the Palestinians stand on that. That is your touchy part, is Jerusalem even on the table, I don’t know that it is.”