France and Germany boycott 4th of July event at US Embassy in Jerusalem
It was announced on Tuesday that senior ambassadors from several European countries, including Germany and France, boycotted a Fourth of July event held earlier this month at the US Embassy in Jerusalem, reportedly because their countries do not recognize Jerusalem as Israel’s capital.
They also objected to the location of the US Embassy which is in a section of Jerusalem that was an UN-monitored demilitarized zone from 1948-1967 separating Israel from an area in Judea that was illegally occupied by Jordanian.
The Trump administration recognized Jerusalem as Israel’s capital in late 2017 and then moved its embassy from Tel Aviv to Jerusalem in 2018. This marked the first time the traditional Fourth of July event was held at the US embassy in Jerusalem. US ambassador David Friedman held an Independence Day event at the International Convention Center in Jerusalem, in 2019 but the event was canceled in 2020 due to the pandemic.
Other countries that boycotted the US-sponsored event were Romania, the United Kingdom, Kosovo, Australia, Norway, and Canada.
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