John McCain said he would move the U.S. embassy to Israel to Jerusalem upon being elected president.
“Right away,” Sen. McCain (R-Ariz.) the presumptive Republican nominee for president told CNN Friday. “I’ve been committed to that proposition for years.”
President Bush also committed to moving the embassy during his 2000 campaign, but never did. Presidents oppose such a move as preempting Israeli-Palestinian negotiations and endangering U.S. security interests in the Middle East.
McCain’s rival, Sen. Barack Obama (D-Ill.), has said that he would only consider such a move once the sides come close to a final status peace agreement.
McCain would not comment on how he would react should Israel preemptively attack Iran to prevent its acquisition of nuclear weapons. All he would say was that “the United State of America is committed to making sure there is not a second Holocaust.”
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