Sa’ar welcomes US embassy’s opening of consular service pop-up in West Bank settlement

Foreign Minister Gideon Sa’ar expresses his appreciation for the US embassy’s decision to open a pop-up location providing consular services to US citizens in the West Bank settlement of Efrat.

“I want also to mention and to appreciate the important decision by the US embassy to extend consular services to Efrat in Judea and Samaria, that we saw only this week,” Sa’ar says during his remarks, using the biblical term for the West Bank while speaking at a Knesset caucus marking the 250th anniversary of the United States.

The embassy’s announcement of the initiative came despite its denial earlier this month that it was planning to open a new office — either temporary or permanent — in Efrat, after the settlement’s mayor appeared to try to preview the pop-up but referred to it as a consular branch. The embassy has not responded to a request for clarification on the apparent reversal.