Former US Senator Jon Kyl dies at 84 — Jerusalem Post
Former Arizona Senator Jon Kyl has died in the United States at the age of 84. The cause was complications from a neurological illness, the Jerusalem Post reports.
Kyl represented Arizona in the US Senate continuously for 18 years, from 1995 to 2013. In 2018, he briefly returned to the upper chamber of Congress.
Work in the Senate
The politician also sought funding for Israel's Arrow missile defense system. In addition, he opposed the recognition of a Palestinian state by the administration of US President Barack Obama.
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Jerusalem Embassy Act
One of Kyl's main legislative achievements was considered to be his involvement in drafting and promoting the Jerusalem Embassy Act, adopted in 1995. Together with then-Senate Majority Leader Bob Dole, he worked on the bill, which provided for recognizing Jerusalem as Israel's capital and moving the US embassy there.
The Senate supported the law by 93 votes to five. However, for more than two decades, US presidents did not fully implement its provisions on moving the embassy, using a clause that allowed this step to be postponed for six months on national security grounds. In 2011, Kyl said he regretted including this clause in the law.
US President Donald Trump recognized Jerusalem as Israel's capital in 2017, and the following year the US embassy was moved to the city. After Kyl's death, Chaim Silberstein, head of the Jerusalem Center for Applied Policy, said that Kyl had helped enshrine in US legislation the principle of recognizing Jerusalem as Israel's capital.
