WATCH: Biden’s State Dept. Admits Jerusalem Consulate Needs Israel’s Consent

A senior State Department official admitted Wednesday that President Joe Biden would not be able to put a U.S. consulate in Jerusalem to liaise with Palestinians without Israel’s consent, due to existing U.S. law and international treaty obligations.

Sen. Bill Hagerty (R-TN) asked U.S. Deputy Secretary of State for Management and Resources Brian McKeon about the issue at a Senate Foreign Relations Committee hearing, noting that the Jerusalem Embassy Act of 1995 bars the U.S. from taking any action that would divide Jerusalem.

The Vienna Convention on Consular Relations of 1963, ratified unanimously by the Senate in 1969, also prevents any country from declaring a consulate without the permission of the host country.

Hagerty said: “I just want to confirm something, on the record: is it your understanding that under U.S. and international law, the government of Israel would have to provide its affirmative consent before the United States could open or reopen the U.S. consulate to the Palestinians in Jerusalem? Or does the Biden administration believe it can move forward to establish a second U.S. mission in the Israel[i] capital city of Jerusalem without the consent of the government in Israel?”

McKeon replied: “Senator, that’s my understanding — that we need the consent of the host government to open any diplomatic facility.”

Earlier this week, Hagerty led 35 Republicans in introducing the “Upholding the 1995 Jerusalem Embassy Law Act of 2021,”  which would prevent the Biden administration from spending money on any diplomatic mission in Jerusalem other than the U.S. embassy that President Donald Trump moved there in 2018, fulfilling a bipartisan promise broken by past presidents.

Joel B. Pollak is Senior Editor-at-Large at Breitbart News and the host of Breitbart News Sunday on Sirius XM Patriot on Sunday evenings from 7 p.m. to 10 p.m. ET (4 p.m. to 7 p.m. PT). He is the author of the new e-book, The Zionist Conspiracy (and how to join it). His recent book, RED NOVEMBER, tells the story of the 2020 Democratic presidential primary from a conservative perspective. He is a winner of the 2018 Robert Novak Journalism Alumni Fellowship. Follow him on Twitter at @joelpollak.