JERUSALEM • When Israel declared its independence in 1948, President Harry Truman rushed to recognise it. He took just 11 minutes, and the Israelis, about to go to war to defend their infant state, were euphoric.

Seventy years to the day - and nearly as long since Israel declared the holy city of Jerusalem its "eternal capital" - the United States opened its embassy on a hilltop here 3.2km south of the Western Wall.