Mnuchin to lead delegation to embassy opening in Jerusalem: report

Treasury Secretary Steven Mnuchin will lead the U.S. delegation to Israel in May for the inauguration of the U.S. Embassy in Jerusalem, Axios reported Sunday.

About 250 people are expected to travel from the U.S. for the embassy opening, including around 40 members of Congress and leaders from Jewish organizations and pro-Israel groups, Axios reported, citing Israeli officials.

Also accompanying Mnuchin on the trip will be Jared Kushner, President Trump’s son-in-law and senior adviser. The president’s daughter Ivanka Trump, also a senior adviser, may attend the opening, but her attendance isn’t set in stone yet.

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Neither the White House nor the Treasury Department immediately responded to The Hill’s requests for comment.

Israeli officials are hoping to use the opening to convince other countries to follow the United States’s example and move their embassies to Jerusalem, according to Axios.

Trump announced in December that the U.S. would relocate its embassy in Israel from Tel Aviv to Jerusalem, breaking with decades of U.S. policy in the region.

The move was praised by conservatives and pro-Israel groups, but garnered criticism from foreign leaders, who warned that relocating the U.S. Embassy could further undermine stability in the region. 

While Israel sees Jerusalem as its undivided capital, the U.S. held for decades that the country’s capital was in Tel Aviv. Jerusalem is considered a holy city for Muslims, Christians and Jews, and Palestinians have also long aspired to establish the capital of a future Palestinian state in the city’s eastern sector.