Israeli joint opposition leader on US embassy move

The joint leader of the Zionist Union opposition in Israel’s parliament, Tzipi Livni, has told BBC Hardtalk that any decision to move the US embassy from Tel Aviv to Jerusalem would be an “American decision”, but “as an Israeli, Jerusalem is our capital”.

“This is a question of not only of taking the embassy, but the context in which it would be done," she told Sarah Montague.

US representatives had been consulting with their Palestinian counterparts and other Arab countries in the Middle East about plans for an embassy relocation, explained Ms Livni.

"I know that they started already asking our neighbours, asking the Palestinians, asking the Arabs what would be the implications, and it is for them to say how this is going to impact them," she said.

Ms Livni is the joint-leader of centre-left Zionist Union electoral alliance and was Israel’s foreign minister between 2006 and 2009.

You can see the interview in full on Tuesday 21 February on BBC World News and the BBC News Channel and after on BBC iPlayer.