Israeli Consulate In Philadelphia Closing Soon
PHILADELPHIA (CBS) - The Israeli Consulate in Philadelphia will close at the end of the year.
Yaron Sideman, Israeli Consul General in Philadelphia, says this week, Israel announced that the Philadelphia Consulate will be one of the five diplomatic missions that will be shut down before the year is over:
"It's a painful decision and it hasn't been taken lightly."
Sideman says Philadelphia consulate responsibilities will be redistributed:
"For example, we have an embassy in Washington DC of course, we have a Consulate in Chicago, we have a Consulate in New York and given that this Consulate covers the area of Pennsylvania, Ohio, Kentucky, West Virginia, Delaware, South Jersey, I can sort of see how that will be handled."
He adds the decision to close the Philadelphia consulate was a decision made strictly based on the Israeli budget -- not its relationship with the United States:
"This decision does not impact those relations or reflect on them, is important for me to stress."