Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu took a step back on Thursday from comments challenged by US President Donald Trump on a one-year timeframe for the planned relocation of the US Embassy from Tel Aviv to Jerusalem.
According to Reuters, an official in Netanyahu's office said the prime minister recognized that construction of a new embassy will take years but believes Washington is considering "interim measures that could result in an embassy opening much faster".
The official, who declined to be named, did not define those steps or mention any dates for a Jerusalem embassy to begin operating.
Reversing decades of US policy, Trump in early December recognized Jerusalem as Israel’s capital and set in motion the process of moving the embassy from Tel Aviv, upsetting the Arab world and Western allies alike.
Netanyahu, according to Israeli reporters traveling with him on a trip to India, said on Wednesday: "My solid assessment is that it will go much faster than you think - within a year from now."
Asked about Netanyahu’s comment, Trump told Reuters in an interview that was not the case. "By the end of the year? We’re talking about different scenarios - I mean obviously that would be on a temporary basis. We’re not really looking at that. That's no."
The Israeli official, responding to Trump's remarks, said: "The president and the prime minister are not saying anything different".
