Huckabee: U.S. Will Break Ground on Permanent Jerusalem Embassy

U.S. Ambassador to Israel Mike Huckabee said Sunday the United States will soon break ground at the Allenby Compound in southern Jerusalem for a permanent embassy complex, consolidating operations now spread across multiple sites. He made the announcement at a Sukkot reception for foreign diplomats hosted by Jerusalem Mayor Moshe Lion at Safra Square. “We will soon be breaking ground on our property to begin the construction of the U.S. embassy that will be our permanent home rather than being spread out all over the country,” Huckabee said.

Israel approved the Allenby site in March. Washington and Jerusalem signed the land agreement July 1. The current embassy operates from the former U.S. consulate building in the Arnona neighborhood, the facility redesignated after President Trump recognized Jerusalem as Israel’s capital in December 2017 and relocated the embassy from Tel Aviv in May 2018. State Department planning documents have said the new complex is meant to improve security and efficiency by bringing scattered offices under one roof. The Allenby property, along Hebron Road, previously served as a British Mandate military base and later an Israeli Border Police station. The lease signed this summer is a 99-year, renewable arrangement. Huckabee has described the symbolic $1 payment as “the best real estate deal I’ll ever make.” He has estimated the finished project could cost around $1 billion.

Huckabee said construction could take years and that he may not see the building completed. He framed the groundbreaking as a lasting U.S. commitment that would make any future relocation harder. “It is our commitment as the United States of America and a partner of Israel to say that we are going to put a permanent imprint in this city,” he said. “There is no way that in the future someone would ever come and try to move us out of Jerusalem, where we belong.” Lion said Trump’s 2017 decision was “turning from paper into stone.” Foreign Minister Gideon Sa’ar, who signed the July agreement with Huckabee, called the United States “indispensable and irreplaceable” to Israel.

The embassy move implemented the Jerusalem Embassy Act of 1995, which Congress passed with veto-proof margins and which successive administrations waived until Trump. Other countries have since opened or announced Jerusalem missions. The United States still maintains facilities elsewhere in Israel while the permanent compound is designed. Huckabee told the diplomatic gathering that Jerusalem has been the capital of the Jewish people for 3,000 years and that the new embassy would be “our permanent and forever home here in Jerusalem.” Groundbreaking has not been given a public date. The ambassador said it would happen soon.