One would think that a political party with the word ‘Christian’ in the title would at the very least recognize Jerusalem as Israel’s capital. Especially if that same party pressured its leader to accept such a proposal. But not German chancellor Angela Merkel according to a report in the JPost. That’s because despite efforts to hop on the Jerusalem embassy relocation bandwagon by a youth division in her party, Merkel remained adamant about leaving it in Tel Aviv.

The conservative Young Union of Germany (JU) defied its party’s leaders – German Chancellor Merkel’s Christian Democratic Union (CDU/CSU) and the Christian Union Party – by calling for the relocation of the Germany’s embassy to Jerusalem.

The JU passed a resolution last week titled “Recognition of Jerusalem as Israel’s capital” at their annual Germany Day convention which took place in Saarland. According to reports in Germany’s press outlets, the JU called on the CDU and CSU parties in the Bundestag to “follow the examples of the USA, Russia and Guatemala, and relocate its embassy to Jerusalem and therefore recognize Jerusalem as the capital of Israel.”

The JU manifesto stated that the continuous refusal by the German government to move its embassy may continue to damage the relationship between Germany and Israel.

Back in 2018, reports came out that Chancellor Merkel intensely lobbied European states not to move their country’s embassies to Jerusalem.

JU’s demand was flat out rejected by Jürgen Hardt, the foreign policy spokesman of the CDU and MP in the Bundestag, Jürgen Hardt, saying: “The relocation of the embassy would not solve any problems, rather [it would] create new problems,” according to the daily media outlet Hannoversche Allgemeine Zeitung.