Trump edges away from moving Israel embassy to Jerusalem and stakes out middle ground on building new settlements – just as Netanyahu is primed for a visit

President Donald Trump said Thursday that he is only in the early stages of considering the relocation of America’s embassy in Israel from Tel Aviv to Jerusalem.

And he hedged on the issue of Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu’s continued settlement construction, refusing to condemn the practice but also backing off from aggressive campaign statements supporting the practice.

‘No, I don’t want to condemn Israel,’ the president told the Israel Hayom newspaper in an interview published Friday morning. ‘Israel has had a long history of condemnation and difficulty. And I don’t want to be condemning Israel.’

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