“Under a Trump administration, I will recognize Jerusalem as the undivided capital of the state of Israel”

(NEWSER) – Both Hillary Clinton and Donald Trump set up Sunday meetings with Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu, on the eve of their first big debate, the AP reports—and Trump, who met with Netanyahu first in New York City, made a big promise to the PM that would mark a “potential dramatic shift in US policy,” as Reuters frames it. Although Israel refers to the city of Jerusalem as its capital, most other nations, including the US, don’t, choosing to keep embassies in Tel Aviv instead. But Trump reportedly told Netanyahu all that would change if he makes it into the White House, noting that “Jerusalem has been the eternal capital of the Jewish People for over 3,000 years” and that the US, “under a Trump administration, will … recognize Jerusalem as the undivided capital of the state of Israel,” according to a statement from Trump’s campaign, per Al Jazeera.

Reuters notes that the Palestinians want to claim East Jerusalem—which Israel nabbed in the 1967 war and annexed in 1980—for themselves for when they eventually set up their own state next to Israel. But in the private meeting with Netanyahu, Trump is said to have noted that “Israel and its citizens have suffered far too long on the front lines of Islamic terrorism” and that “peace will only come when the Palestinians renounce hatred and violence and accept Israel as a Jewish State.” What Trump is using to back up his push: a law passed by Congress in 1995 that called for all of Jerusalem to be recognized as Israel’s capital, though Al Jazeera points out no president from either major party has ever put the law into effect, as it would cut into the executive branch’s sway over foreign policy.