After all, there is no legal reason why the US embassy should not be in Jerusalem, and lots of good reasons why it should. It is Israel's capital, after all. The idea that Jerusalem would ever become an international city, the official US reason for not moving it, has been dead for 67 years. The real reason the US hasn't moved the embassy is because of a bizarre hope that somehow that disrespect towards the State of Israel will motivate Zionists to give up more concessions to Palestinians. Yet, as David Gerstman writes in Legal Insurrection, that has backfired into more Palestinian intransigence, and moving the embassy would destroy the fiction that coddling Arabs brings us closer to peace.
Jeff Jacoby summed it up earlier this year:
Israel's enemies don't object to siting foreign embassies in Jerusalem because it would undermine diplomatic negotiations. They object because they deny Israel's claim to any part of Jerusalem, even parts that have always been sovereign Israeli territory. They deny, in other words, that Israel's very existence is a settled issue. Moving the US embassy to Jerusalem would send one message, simple but significant: Americans do not regard the survival of the Jewish state as negotiable.Most Israelis, from the left to the right, would welcome moving the embassy to Jerusalem. Most Americans who expressed an opinion say it should be moved.
What about potential security issues with the move? The Tower asked retired Israeli General Yaakov Amridor:
When asked if Trump’s much-publicized promise to move the American embassy to Jerusalem was good for Israel, Amidror didn’t hesitate. “No question. It will not change anything fundamental on the ground but it would be very symbolic that the capital of Israel is becoming a real capital in which foreign countries are building their embassies,” he said. “It’s very important symbolically.”In short, there is no legal or security reason why the US shouldn't do what is right, and many important reasons why it should.
What is J-Street's position?
Do you have to ask?
The purportedly "pro-Israel" group is against moving the embassy. Actually, they are not only against moving the embassy - they are against any American politician even saying that they want to move the embassy:
American elected officials should respect the need for the permanent status of Jerusalem to be determined in the context of a negotiated two-state solution, and refrain from steps, rhetorical or practical, that inflame an already tense situation – for instance, calling for the immediate relocation of the American Embassy to Jerusalem.
J-Street cares so much about possibly upsetting Arabs that Jews who feel passionately about Israel's attachment to Jerusalem can go to hell. The Jews don't start knifing people when they get upset, so their opinions aren't as important as those of the Arabs who threaten to do exactly that.
This is J-Street's "pro-Israel" position - "cower before your enemies and maybe they'll like you better, because everything is your fault anyway."
Jerusalem is a wonderful litmus test as to whether you are pro-Israel: If you are against things that most Israelis are adamantly for and for things that they are against, and you use the excuse that it is for their own good, you can be sure that you aren't really pro-Israel.
