Experience with the US consulate
Reader comment on item: A Consulate in Jerusalem

Submitted by William Cantor, MD (United States), Jan 19, 2006 at 13:20

Five years ago on a family trip to celebrate our oldest grandsons bar mitzvah, my wife's pocketbook with all of her records, passport and cards were stole from under our noses in the lobby of the Carlton Hotel in TelAviv, just down the street from our embassy. It was Friday at 2 PM. on July 1. There was no answer to our calls, no emergency response and knowing that the embassy would probably be closed for Shabat, the Sabbath and the 4th of July, we resumed our trip to the North and ultimately to Jerusalem. There the consulate advised us that to obtain a new passport we would have to go to the East Jerusalem Consulate. Your description is accurate. Fortunately, this was before the recent Intifada.

Every congress and every president has reached for Jewish votes by swearing to move the embassy to Jerusalem. The Jewish part of Jerusalem must have the facilities that are relegated to the Arab side by our (presumably) still proArab State Department.

Having recently been in Jerusalem, I can tell you that security afforded our West Jerusalem consulate is formidable, and that's on the friendly side!

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