During the 2016 presidential campaign, then Republican candidate Donald Trump stated that under his administration, the United States would “recognize Jerusalem as the undivided capital of the State of Israel.”
Donald Trump: I will ‘recognize Jerusalem as the undivided capital of the State of Israel’.
Since then, he has commented numerous times on his support for recognizing a united Jerusalem as Israel’s capital, and for moving the embassy to Jerusalem – eventually – but he has hedged on actually doing so.
In June of this year, he signed the six month waiver delaying the relocation of the embassy from Tel Aviv to Jerusalem.
During the past few weeks, a bill known as the “Greater Jerusalem” law has been circulating in the Knesset that would extend Israeli sovereignty to a number of Jewish communities surrounding Jerusalem. This would effectively increase the Jewish majority of Israel’s capital in relation to the Arab minority.
This bill was supposed to be up for a vote shortly, but reportedly due to U.S. pressure, the vote has been delayed.
Israel delays move to expand Jerusalem, citing US pressure
Regarding the vote, a U.S. official stated, “It’s fair to say that the US is discouraging actions that it believes will unduly distract the principals from focusing on the advancement of peace negotiations. The Jerusalem expansion bill was considered by the administration to be one of those actions.”
US official: Jerusalem expansion bill ‘distracts’ parties from peace
DISTRACTS THE PARTIES FROM PEACE? Nonsense. Just this past month, the sham reconciliation between Hamas and Fatah showed the true face of Arab “unity.” As summarized in Jewish Virtual Library (click HERE):
Under the terms of their agreement, Hamas remains committed to the destruction of Israel and the agreement does not require the group to meet any of the conditions set by the U.S. and other Western nations for entering discussions with the organization. Hamas is expected to recognize Israel’s right to exist, cease terrorism and agree to abide by past agreements signed by Israel and the Palestinians. Worse, from a security standpoint, Hamas is not required to disarm, so it can continue to build up its arsenal of rockets, construct tunnels and engage in terror.
So, what kind of “peace” does President Trump and the administration expect to result from negotiations when one side is still committed to the destruction of the other?
President Trump has selected a number of excellent individuals to represent the administration in the Middle East and Israel. However, we fear that, to paraphrase the president himself, the State Department “swamp” has not yet been drained, and he is unduly influenced by holdovers from the Obama administration, many of whom were no fans of the Jewish State.
We ask the President: when will you live up to your campaign promises and move the U.S. embassy to Jerusalem, recognize a united Jerusalem as Israel’s capital, and accept the fact that Jews have the right to live everywhere, especially in their historic homeland and cradle of Jewish civilization, Judea and Samaria?