(JNS) Ahead of the three-year anniversary of U.S President Donald Trump recognizing Jerusalem as Israel’s capital, more than three-dozen Republican members of Congress have called for language in an upcoming must-pass appropriations bill that would prohibit American funding from being used to move the U.S. embassy in Israel from Jerusalem. In a Dec. 4 letter, a group of 43 Republicans in the U.S. House of Representatives called on Speaker Nancy Pelosi (D-Calif.), Senate Majority Leader Mitch McConnell (R-Ky.), Senate Minority Leader Chuck Schumer (D-N.Y.) and House Minority Leader Kevin McCarthy (R-Calif.) to ensure that the 2021 State, Foreign Operations and Related Agencies bill, primarily funding the U.S. State Department, which oversees embassies, includes language that prohibits funding from “being used to move the United States’ embassy out of Jerusalem.” Trump recognized Jerusalem as Israel’s capital on Dec. 6, 2017, and moved the U.S. embassy to there from Tel Aviv five months later.

“In a time when we are seeing the increasing normalization of relations between Israel and its Arab neighbors, we must ensure that the United States does not take a step backward by moving the U.S. embassy out of Jerusalem, which is why we seek the prohibition of any FY21 funding in the State, Foreign Operations and Related Agencies bill being used to move the United States’ embassy out of Jerusalem,” wrote the GOP congressional members.

Main Photo: A view of the U.S. embassy in Jerusalem’s Arnona neighborhood, Feb. 24, 2018. Credit: Yonatan Sindel/Flash90.