A man walks next to a road sign directing to the US embassy in Jerusalem, February 18, 2019. Photo: REUTERS/Ammar Awad.

The US Senate approved an amendment to Friday’s COVID-19 relief package that pledges to keep the US Embassy to Israel in Jerusalem, reaffirming the 2018 decision by former President Donald Trump to relocate it from Tel Aviv.

The amendment, included in a budget measure approving a $1.9 trillion stimulus package, passed by a 97-3 vote, with only Senators Tom Carper (D-DE), Elizabeth Warren (D-MA) and Bernie Sanders (D-VT) voting against it. The broader pandemic relief measure passed narrowly, 51-50, with Vice President Kamala Harris casting the tie-breaking vote.

“Pleased the Senate overwhelmingly passed the amendment @SenatorHagerty and I introduced to make sure the U.S. Embassy to Israel remains located in Jerusalem, the capital of Israel,” said Senator Jim Inhofe (R-OK) on Twitter.

https://twitter.com/JimInhofe/status/1357549596839444481?s=20

The Trump Administration’s decision to move the embassy came more than two decades after the 1995 Jerusalem Embassy Act, passed by the Senate on a 93-5 vote, which recognized Jerusalem as Israel’s capital and set aside funds to move the US Embassy there. In the interim, every president before Trump had invoked waivers to delay applying the law.

In his Senate confirmation hearings in January, Secretary of State Antony Blinken committed to keeping the US Embassy in the Israeli capital.

“There’s not much the U.S. Senate agrees on these days,” wrote American Jewish Committee CEO David Harris on Twitter. “Happily, here’s one point of agreement: U.S. embassy should stay in Jerusalem, Israel’s capital city.”

https://twitter.com/DavidHarrisAJC/status/1357678423062282240?s=20