JERUSALEM — For the past twenty-four hours, the Israeli news media have been hyping a story that a senior member of the American delegation prepping President Donald Trump’s trip to Israel sniped at his Israeli counterpart that the Western Wall – Judaism’s holiest site – is “not your territory”; it’s “part of the West Bank.”
The rampant television, radio, newspaper, and Internet news reports framed the official as being associated with Trump’s delegation as if the individual were a member of the administration who came to Israel to help prepare for next week’s presidential visit.
Tuesday, Israel’s Channel 2 identified the individual allegedly involved in the confrontation as David Berns, the political counselor at the U.S. Consulate in Jerusalem.
According to the television report, Berns was joined by embassy economic adviser Jonathan Shrier, who also was allegedly involved in the episode.
Berns is a career officer at the State Department who has been working at the U.S. Consulate since August 2015. In other words, he received his position there during the Obama administration. According to his LinkedIn profile, Berns served from January 2002 until present as a foreign service officer with the State Department.
