The international community has been up in arms over the prospective move of Tel Aviv's US embassy to Jerusalem, breaking with decades of international policy towards Israel and Palestine, and further entrenching Israel's claim over all of Jerusalem. 

But US President Donald Trump now appears to be backpedaling on this controversial campaign promise. 

In its first ever press briefing,  Trump's White House has stated that there is "no decision yet" on the embassy's relocation to the one of the world's most contentious cities. 

"At the end of the president's first four years ... will the US embassy be in Jerusalem?" asked a reporter at yesterday's press briefing. 

"We are still at the early stages of this decision-making process. There's a reason you go through a decision-making process and that's the process we're starting right now," said Press Secretary Sean Spicer. 

"If it was already a decision. We wouldn't be going through a process." 

As a presidential nominee, Trump made a campaign promise to move the US embassy from Tel Aviv to Jerusalem. As President-elect, he gave Israel's ambassador post to David Friedman who opposes the two-state solution. 

Friedman has said he looks forward to working from “from the U.S. Embassy in Israel’s eternal capital, Jerusalem." 

If Trump makes good on his promise, America's would be the first embassy in the world to be located in the city considered holy to three world religions. 

But, Trump is not the first U.S. presidential candidate to vow to make the move, nearly every candidate has also made similar promises. 

In his first address as Democratic Presidential Candidate, Barack Obama, broke with international consensus on Jerusalem's status and said in a speech: 

"Jerusalem  will remain the capital of Israel, and it will remain undivided."

The remarks were made to Washington's most powerful pro-Israel organization, the American Israeli Public Affairs Committee (AIPAC). 

Recognizing Jerusalem as a "Jewish capital" is widely believed to come with major security repercussions, namely, angering a global Muslim community that numbers over 1 billion people. 

While a Jerusalem embassy makes for good campaign posturing--particularly in appealing to powerful lobbyists and certain religious contingents--it likely does not make for sound policy. It appears that Trump is finally coming to terms with that.