Democrats' acknowledgement of the U.S. embassy opening in Jerusalem Monday was virtually non-existent. The Times of Israel reported that no Democratic members of Congress attended the ceremony.
Former Sen. Joe Lieberman, told them he was “surprised” that “no sitting legislators from his former party were in Jerusalem for the embassy dedication.”
“I hope that the Democratic members had [scheduling] conflicts and they had to be somewhere else,” he said. “I hope that they don’t see this as some kind of pro-Trump rally in Jerusalem. It’s not. Its a pro-US-Israel friendship-partnership-alliance rally. And it’s celebrating the strength of our relationship, which has been always bipartisan.”
Sen. Ted Cruz (R-TX) said that “every member of Congress had the option before them to come and be here. There was no way on earth we could have inaugurated this embassy without my being here to celebrate it. It’s too important.”
Senate Minority Leader Chuck Schumer (D-NY), though not in attendance, did have some rare words of praise for President Trump Monday over the move of the embassy from Tel Aviv to Jerusalem.
“In a long overdue move, we have moved our embassy to Jerusalem,” Schumer said in a statement. “Every nation should have the right to choose its capital. I sponsored legislation to do this two decades ago, and I applaud President Trump for doing it.”
According to some other Israeli news outlets, Rep. Ted Deutch (D-FL) was in attendance at the ceremony. However, a reporter with the Associated Press says Deutch did not attend.
This post will be updated if Rep. Deutch’s attendance is confirmed.