Elder Of Ziyon - Israel News

Thursday, December 07, 2017

Trumping Jerusalem (Vic Rosenthal)

Vic Rosenthal's Weekly Column

He did it.

In a very carefully written speech, Donald Trump announced that the US would recognize Jerusalem as the capital of the state of Israel, and that he would begin the process of moving the US Embassy from Tel Aviv to Jerusalem. The video and transcript of his speech are here.

So is this a big deal or not?

I think it is, although it will depend in part on what happens afterwards.

Do you remember when Arafat recognized the state of Israel as part of the Oslo accords? He and his successor Mahmoud Abbas made it abundantly clear that they “recognized” the state the way I would recognize an alligator lying across the sidewalk in front of me: I can’t pretend that she doesn’t exist, but I don’t believe that she has a right to be there. And I want her removed as soon as possible.

Trump made it clear that it was impossible to continue the pretense that somehow the status of Jerusalem is up in the air:

But today we finally acknowledge the obvious. That Jerusalem is Israel’s capital. This is nothing more or less than a recognition of reality. It is also the right thing to do. It’s something that has to be done.

If this were only what he said then the door is open for anyone to take the alligator interpretation. But he also said this:

Israel is a sovereign nation with the right, like every other sovereign nation, to determine its own capital. Acknowledging this is a fact is a necessary condition for achieving peace. It was 70 years ago that the United States under President Truman recognized the state of Israel.

Ever since then, Israel has made its capital in the city of Jerusalem, the capital the Jewish people established in ancient times. [my emphasis]

He didn’t have to add that last sentence. But he did, and it is the most important one in his speech. It refutes the attempts of the PA and their allies at the UN to deny the historic connection of the Jewish people to Jerusalem. And it supports the legal argument that the Jewish people  are indigenous to the land, and have aboriginal rights to Jerusalem (and by extension, all the land of Israel).

The US State Department has insisted that the status of Jerusalem – all of Jerusalem – must be determined by negotiations between the parties. It held that until then, the various UN resolutions that call for Jerusalem to be an internationally governed corpus separatum are theoretically operative. It has been a source of derision for years that the State Department refused to say what country Jerusalem is in. Trump has finally put an end to this silliness .

Nevertheless, Trump did not refer to a “unified” Jerusalem, and he emphasized that the boundaries of Israeli (and presumably, Palestinian) sovereignty in Jerusalem will be determined by future negotiations. For the first time, he referred to a “two-state solution,” although he added “if agreed to by both sides.” In other words, he opposes the idea of an imposed solution.

He also did not mention “pre-1967 lines,” nor did he say anything about  East or West Jerusalem.  It’s been Israel’s position – and also that of the Arab signers of the 1949 cease-fire agreement – that the armistice line (the “Green Line”) has no political significance, and is in no sense a “border.” Indeed, this is implied by UNSC resolution 242, the basis for all subsequent “peace processing,” when it calls for “secure and recognized boundaries:” the understanding is that the Green Line is neither secure nor recognized by either side.

The introduction of “pre-1967 lines” as the “basis” of an Israeli-Palestinian settlement in Barack Obama’s 2011 peace proposalwas particularly objectionable for this reason.  The concept of “land swaps,” by which the Palestinians would receive land west of the line in compensation for land in settlement blocs that would become part of Israel is also problematic, because it implies that all of the land east of the line “belongs” to the Arabs ; otherwise, why should they get something in return for it?

Trump’s announcement that he has directed the State Department to begin the process of moving the embassy is welcome, but since he has signed the waiver to give him another six months, it essentially adds nothing to the promises that he has already made. He did not mention the waiver in his speech.

Naturally, the threats from those who believe there should be no Jewish state – because that is what it means to say that Jerusalem is not part of it – are flowing in as predictably as the tide. There will be Palestinian “days of rage” which will result in disturbances and possibly terrorism here. Turkish President Erdoğan has threatened to break relations with Israel, a stupid move which will get him nothing. Arab and European leaders have also objected, claiming that it will damage the nonexistent and impossible “peace process.” However, the consensus is that Saudi Arabia and other Sunni Gulf states as well as Egypt won’t go any farther than harsh words.

The best thing that could happen would be if other nations followed the US. Agreement or at least acquiescence by Saudi Arabia or Egypt – a crack in the anti-Israel wall built by the Arabs with their famous “three no’s” issued at the Khartoum summit in 1967 – would be fabulous, but probably Israel will have to settle for something less. Jordan’s ungrateful little King Abdullah, who seems to think that Moshe Dayan’s foolish decision to leave the Jordanian waqf in control of the Temple Mount granted him sovereignty over all of Jerusalem, is expected to splutter, and this perhaps will slow the resumption of normal relations with Israel, which were disrupted by the recent incident in which an Israeli security guard killed two Jordanians after one of them tried to stab him.

Western Europe will continue in its hostility. In my opinion, attitudes there have gone beyond sympathy for the Palestinian Arabs, and they are deep into antisemitism.

The world isn’t what it was in 1990 or even 2000. The US is not the major player in the Middle East any more, and relations between the regional powers may be more important than the influence of Washington. Russia’s clout here is growing as well. Although Russia has recently expressed concern that US actions might damage relations between Israel and the Palestinians, the Russian Foreign Ministry issued a statement in April that, while continuing to call for a Palestinian state with a capital in eastern Jerusalem, recognized Israel’s claim to its own capital in the western part of the city.

I think it’s worth emphasizing the surreal nature of this issue. Israel controls Jerusalem. As Trump noted, the President of Israel and her Prime Minister live in Jerusalem, her Knesset and cabinet meet in Jerusalem, her ministries have offices in Jerusalem. It has been thus since Jewish sovereignty in the land of Israel was reestablished after thousands of years of exile. No other nation has made Jerusalem its capital city since the Jebusites lost it to King David’s army around 1000 BCE.

Israel, as in so many other areas, gets “special treatment” on this question by the international community. Every other country is permitted to designate its own capital. Despite the fact that the indigenous population was rudely displaced by the construction of a new capital city, Brasilia, in 1960, nobody has claimed that the capital of Brazil is still Rio de Janeiro or has kept their embassy there.

And yet, successive American presidents have refused to recognize the simple fact that Jerusalem is our capital. Several have promised to do so, but until Donald Trump, none has kept his promise. Yesterday, this man – who is so fiercely criticized in his own country – became a hero to millions of Israelis from almost all political factions.

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12/07 Links Pt1: Trump’s truth-telling on Jerusalem marks an all-new Middle East; 20 reasons why every foreign embassy should move to Jerusalem

From Ian:

John Podhoretz: Trump’s truth-telling on Jerusalem marks an all-new Middle East

‘This is nothing more or less than a recognition of reality,” President Trump said in announcing America’s recognition of Jerusalem as the capital of Israel. Never have truer words been spoken, and they were delivered in the best speech Trump has ever given.

What Trump did was stunning. He could just have signed the waiver of the law passed in 1995 compelling the executive branch to move America’s embassy from Tel Aviv to Jerusalem. He did it six months ago, just like his three immediate predecessors did every six months since 1996. Or he could have not signed the waiver and simply said he was going to start the process of building the new embassy.

Instead, he called the international community’s seven-decade bluff and ended a delusion about the future that has prevented Palestinians from seeing the world and their own geopolitical situation clearly. It is a bold shift.

The idea that Jerusalem is not Israel’s capital has been a global pretense for decades, including here in the United States. It’s a pretense because Jerusalem has been Israel’s capital from the moment the new country secured a future by winning a bloody war for independence waged against it by Arab nations after they rejected the UN partition of the old British mandate into a Jewish state and an Arab state.

Under the plan, Jerusalem was to be an international city governed by the United Nations. But the Arab effort to push the Jews into the sea — an effort no other nation on earth intervened in to prevent — left a divided Jerusalem in the hands of the Jews in the West and Jordan in the East.

There would be no “international” Jerusalem because the Arabs made sure there could not be one.

Promise Keeper

Not only is President Trump's decision to recognize Jerusalem as the capital of Israel and begin the process of moving the U.S. embassy there one of the boldest moves of his presidency. It is one of the boldest moves any U.S. president has made since the beginning of the Oslo "peace process" in 1993. That process collapsed at Camp David in 2000 when Yasir Arafat rejected President Clinton's offer of a Palestinian state. And the process has been moribund ever since, despite multiple attempts to restart it.

That is why the warnings from Trump critics that his decision may wreck the peace process ring hollow. There is no peace process to wreck. The conflict is frozen. And the largest barriers to the resumption of negotiations are found not in U.S. or Israeli policy but in Palestinian autocracy, corruption, and incitement. Have the former Obama administration officials decrying Trump's announcement read a newspaper lately? From listening to them, you'd think it would be all roses and ponies in the Middle East but for Trump. In fact, the region is engulfed in war, terrorism, poverty, and despotism; Israel faces threats in the north and south; its sworn enemy, Iran, is growing in influence and reach; and the delegitimization of the Jewish State proceeds apace in international organizations and on college campuses. I forget how the Obama administration advanced the cause of peace by pressuring Israel while rewarding the largest state sponsor of terrorism in the world. Maybe someone will remind me.

One of the reasons the Middle East persists in its decrepit condition is that it has been, for decades, a playground of magical thinking. Whether it is believing that poverty is the cause of terrorism or that the Ayatollah Khamenei is a good-faith partner, whether it is imagining that Assad will go just because we tell him to or that ISIS is akin to a terrorist "JV team," liberal internationalists have all too eagerly accepted an alternative picture of the Middle East that is much more flattering than the actuality. A similar form of doublethink is present in our discussions over Jerusalem. Every Israeli knows Jerusalem was, is, and will remain his capital. Every recent president has agreed with him. And the U.S. consensus has been bipartisan. The last four Democratic platforms have said the obvious: that Jerusalem is Israel's capital. The Senate voted 90-0 only six months ago urging the embassy be moved to the ancient city. Were we to take seriously neither these platforms nor that vote? Was it all virtue-signaling, a bunch of empty gestures in the kabuki theater of U.S. diplomacy?

Dr. Mordechai Kedar: 20 reasons why every foreign embassy should move to Jerusalem

Arab and Muslim leaders and spokespersons have been trying to frighten the entire world in order to prevent other nations from recognizing Jerusalem as Israel's capital – Trump's declaration notwithstanding – and from relocating their embassies to Jerusalem. It's time to tell the world what it should have realized a long time ago.

1. Jerusalem, the capital of the Jewish people's state, is one of the most ancient capitals in the world. It became the capital of Israel's monarchy during the reign of King David – that is in 1003 B.C.E., 2030 years ago, when the capitals of the countries who refuse to recognize it were still boggy swamps, leafy forests or arid deserts. The history of the oldest nations of Europe, the Greeks and the Romans, proves without a doubt that Jerusalem was already the capital of the Jewish nation in ancient times.

2. The Jews are the only indigenous people of the land of Israel and lived in Jerusalem for 1613 years before the birth of Islam, which occurred in 610 C.E. Putting it bluntly, the Jews lived in Jerusalem when Islam's forefathers were still pagan nomads in the Arabian Peninsula, so what gives the Muslims of today the right to oppose Jerusalem's being recognized as the capital of the Jewish state?

3. Can anyone imagine Muslim threats of terror attacks, demonstrations or uncontrolled rioting having enough clout to limit or direct the political decisions made by world powers?

4. Is there any other country in the world that accepts the dictates of other states regarding the location of its capital city? (h/t Elder of Lobby)

Last month, following the ISIS terrorist attack on a mosque in the Sinai, the Rafah border crossing between Gaza and Egypt was closed. This was the crossing that Hamas controlled -- until it turned control over to Abbas and the Palestinian Authority as part of the "reconciliation" between them. A PA official announced that Egypt closed the crossing because it suspected that some of the terrorists fled the Sinai and used Hamas tunnels to enter Gaza "with the knowledge of senior Hamas officials.”

Evelyn Gordon asserts that the incident and Egypt's reaction prove that Hamas is more than an anti-Israel terrorist group -- it is a Global Jihadist group:

Incidentally, this track record conclusively disproves the widespread fallacy that Hamas is primarily concerned with the Palestinian cause rather than the cause of global jihad. An organization concerned with Palestinian well-being would strive to preserve good relations with Egypt in order to ensure that Gaza’s main gateway to the outside world remained open. Only an organization that prioritized global jihad way above Palestinian wellbeing would offer extensive aid to Islamic State, even at the price of having Rafah almost permanently closed.

Hamas logo

Hamas is certainly not shy about using the word "jihad." The Hamas Covenant uses the word "jihad" 38 times.

More than that, Martin Kramer, in an article he contributed to in "Iran, Hizbullah, Hamas and the Global Jihad" notes that the covenant makes the Hamas connection to the Muslim Brotherhood very clear. According to Article 2:

The Islamic Resistance Movement is one of the wings of Moslem Brotherhood in Palestine. Moslem Brotherhood Movement is a universal organization which constitutes the largest Islamic movement in modern times

Then in Article 7:

The Islamic Resistance Movement is one link in the chain of jihad in confronting the Zionist invasion. It is connected and linked to the [courageous] uprising of the martyr 'Izz Al-Din Al-Qassam and his brethren the jihad fighters of the Muslim Brotherhood in the year 1936. It is further related and connected to another link, [namely] the jihad of the Palestinians, the efforts and jihad of the Muslim Brotherhood in the 1948 war, and the jihad operations of the Muslim Brotherhood in 1968 and afterwards. [emphasis added]

Later, the Hamas Covenant directly addresses facilitating the contribution of Jihad fighters:

"We demand that the Arab countries around Israel open their borders to jihad fighters from among the Arab and Islamic peoples, so they may fulfill their role and join their efforts to the efforts of their brothers - the Muslim brethren in Palestine. As for the rest of the Arab and Muslim countries, we demand that they facilitate the passage of the jihad fighters into them and out of them - that is the very least [they can do].

Kramer points out that the Hamas parent organiztion, the Muslim Brotherhood, has also been the source of several key members and leading commanders of al Qaeda, such as Abdullah Azzam and Khaled Sheikh Muhammad, the mastermind of 9/11.

Jonathan Halevy, who also contributed an article to "Global Jihad," writes that in March 2006, Hamas Interior Minister Said Sayyam, who is responsible for the security forces, announced that he would not arrest jihadists who carry out terror attacks -- this at a time that al Qaeda was developing a presence in both the West Bank and Gaza.

Halevy writes that connections between Hamas and Al Qaeda go back to the early 1990's, when in April 1991 the Sudanese leader Hasan Turabi hosted a “Popular Arab and Islamic Conference” bringing together Islamists from the Middle East, Afghanistan, and Pakistan. Both Hamas and Osama bin Laden attended and Hamas training camps existed alongside those of al Qaeda. bin Laden went so far as to refer to Hamas founder Sheikh Ahmad Yassin as one of the five ulema upon whom bin Laden based his August 1996 Declaration of Jihad Against the U.S

Osama bin Laden; credit: Hamid Mir; Source: Wikipedia

Other incidents illustrating a connection between Hamas and Al Qaeda:

In August 2000, Israel uncovered a terror network linked to al-Qaeda that was headed by Nabil Okal, a Hamas operative from Gaza who underwent military training in bin Laden camps in Pakistan and Afghanistan in 1997-1998.
In July 2005, al-Qaeda fired Kassam rockets from Gaza at the Israeli town of Neve Dekalim in Gush Katif, and disseminated a video documenting their activities.
October 7, 2005, the Palestinian news agency Ma’an published a declaration circulated in Khan Yunis in which al-Qaeda announced the establishment of a branch in Gaza.
On March 26, 2006, senior Hamas figure Muhammad Sayyam met in Pakistan with Sayyid Salah al-Din, leader of the Kashmiri terror orga-nization Hezb ul-Mujahidin, which functioned as an al-Qaeda affiliate

Making the connection between the 2 groups explicit, on October 22, 2003, Richard A. Clarke, the former National Counterterrorism Coordinator on the US National Security Council, said that Hamas and al-Qaeda had a common financial infrastructure: “the funding mechanisms for PIJ [Palestinian Islamic Jihad] and Hamas appear also to have been funding al-Qaeda.”

In 2004, Haaretz reported (Hamas Reveals Its Global Islamic Aspirations) that Hamas took credit for a 2003 suicide bombing at Mike's Place in Tel Aviv, where 3 people were killed and dozens were wounded. The attacks were carried out by a Pakistani-born British Muslim accompanied by another Pakistan-born Briton, from Derby. Hamas claimed:

"We have decided that the response to the crime of the assassination of Dr. Ibrahim Almakadeh should take place at the global level of the Islamic world, because of the views represented by the doctor, a supreme Islamic thinker and commander,"

There were similarities in the attack with terrorist bombings carried out by the global jihadists of Al Qaeda:

It was the first time Hamas presented one of terrorist attacks as part of a global Islamic struggle
It was also the first time Hamas had used non-Palestinian suicide bombers.
At the time of the bombing, no terrorist group took responsibility, so after the identity of the bomber and accomplice was discovered, it was originally assumed that al-Qaida was behind the bombing.

In 2011, a terrorist attack near Eilat killed eight people and wounded 30. It was carried out by 3 groups: 2 associated with Hamas and another with ties to global jihadists.

This game that Hamas has been playing, associating with global jihadist groups, is why in 2014 Egypt designated the Hamas group Izzadin Kassam to be a terrorist group -- the first time any Arab regime had ever declared a Palestinian terrorist organization to be a terrorist group.

According to Carolyn Glick, Egypt had no choice but to define the Hamas group as terrorists:

Despite its insistent protestations that the Jews are its only enemies, Hamas, the Palestinian branch of the Muslim Brotherhood, has been a major player, indeed, arguably the key player in the jihadist insurgency in the Sinai Peninsula that threatens to destroy the political, economic and military viability of the Egyptian state. The declared purpose of the insurgency is to overthrow the regime of President Abdel Fattah al-Sisi and integrate Egypt into Islamic State’s “caliphate.”

Near the beginning of 2015, thirty-two people, mainly soldiers, were killed in the Sinai by a group identified as Ansar Bayt al-Maqdis, a jihadist group pledging its allegiance to ISIS and declaring Sinai to be a province of its “caliphate.” Glick notes that a report by Yoram Schweitzer of the Institute for National Security Studies identifies Hamas members as among the original founders of Ansar Bayt al-Maqdis, in cooperation with local Salafist Beduins and with al-Qaida terrorists.

According to Glick, Hamas terrorists increasingly declare their allegiance to Islamic State. For example, following the massacre of the French journalists at Charlie Hebdo in Paris, several hundred protesters in Gaza waved Islamic State flags in support of the massacre.

Glick sees Hamas not as merely a terrorist threat to Israel but as a lynchpin in the threat of global jihad. This creates the irony that while Israel allies itself with Egypt in facing this threat, the West attempts to coerce Israel into helping Hamas rebuild its infrastructure. Ideally, post-Obama there will a beginning of a realization of the Hamas connection to global jihadist threats.

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Equality Now just released a report on how the world's nations and territories treat rape under the law.

The Palestinian Authority laws are among the very worst. And their laws are truly horrific.

It is legally possible for a perpetrator of rape or sexual assault to escape punishment if he marries the victim in at least 9 (out of 82) jurisdictions. These are Bahrain, Iraq, Jordan, Kuwait, Lebanon, Palestine, Philippines, Tajikistan and Tunisia.

A perpetrator can be exempt from punishment by reaching a “settlement”, financial or otherwise, with the victim or the victim’s family in at least 12 (out of 82) jurisdictions. These are Belgium, Croatia, Iraq, Jordan, Kazakhstan, Lebanon, Palestine, Nigeria, Romania, Russia, Singapore and Thailand.

Rape is treated as an issue of morality rather than one of violence in at least 15 (out of 82) jurisdictions. These are Afghanistan, Belgium, China, India, Indonesia, Jordan, Luxembourg, Netherlands, Nigeria, Pakistan, Palestine, Peru, Singapore, Taiwan and Yemen. In these jurisdictions, sexist terminology of humiliation, outrage, honour, modesty, chastity or morality is used in legal provisions on rape.

In rape cases [in Palestine] involving close relatives, if a victim is over 18 she might be charged with “criminal participation” in incest if the case of rape is not proven.

Also, under Palestinian law, if the victim is a non-virgin, the rape is not considered as heinous as when the victim is a virgin.

Astoundingly, this survey was mentioned in passing in UNRWA's Gender Bulletin - without saying a word about how the territories that UNRWA works in are the worst for women. Instead, UNRWA highlights how wonderful things are, saying things like Abbas will allow women to join security forces in Gaza.

There is literally a worldwide conspiracy to downplay Palestinian outrages because the prevailing narrative for them must be victimhood above all. The meme of Israel evil/Palestinians righteous is more important than the truth to the media, to diplomats, to "experts."

And the victims of this tunnel vision? Palestinian women, among many others.

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The hypocrisy of the Western leaders' denunciation of President Trump's recognizing Jerusalem as Israel's capital is naked and stunning.

French President Macron said “the commitment of France and Europe to the two-state solution, Israel and Palestine living side by side in peace and safe in internationally recognized borders with Jerusalem as the capital of the two states.”

British Prime Minister Theresa May said the status of Jerusalem “should ultimately be the shared capital of the Israeli and Palestinian states.”

United Nations Secretary-General Antonio Guterres said, “It is only by realizing the vision of two states living side by side in peace, security and mutual recognition, with Jerusalem as the capital of Israel and Palestine, and all final status issues resolved permanently through negotiations, that the legitimate aspirations of both peoples will be achieved,” Guterres said.

European Union Foreign Minister Federica Mogherini said, " The aspirations of both parties must be fulfilled and a way must be found through negotiations to resolve the status of Jerusalem as the future capital of both states.”

Swedish Foreign Minister Margot Wallstrom said Jerusalem is “a final status issue and future capital for two states. ”

In the same breath as they say that recognizing Jerusalem as the capital of Israel today is prejudging the outcome of negotiations, every one of these leaders is prejudging the outcome of negotiations - by insisting that Jerusalem will be capital of a Palestinian state! That "fact" is not even up for negotiation!

Israel exists today. Jerusalem is where its government is, today. Saying that out loud does not hurt peace. On the contrary, acknowledging the truth is the only way to bring peace. Indulging fantasies is how to avoid peace.

But this is exactly what the EU and UN leaders are doing. They "know" that any Palestinian state must have Jerusalem as its capital - even though there is no logical, historical or even security reason to insist on that.

In other words, Palestinians have veto power over declaring Jerusalem the capital of Israel (because that has to be "negotiated,") but Israel has no such power over Palestinians saying that same about their future capital. The world already has given it to them.

The existing Palestinian seat of government is in Ramallah. Jerusalem is not, and never was, any Arab capital. The entire reason for that Palestinian demand for Jerusalem is to take Jerusalem away from Israel. They've said it themselves.

The insistence that Jerusalem must be the capital of a Palestinian state is the real obstacle to peace.

If the EU and UN really wanted peace, instead of kowtowing to ahistorical and ultimately impossible Palestinian demands (seriously, how can a city with two sovereigns exist without dividing it again?) they would tell the Palestinians that they have a choice: a state without Jerusalem (except in a symbolic way using a suburb of the city) or no state at all.

By telling the Palestinians that they will get their prize no matter what, the world is rewarding decades of terror and intransigence. And that does not bring peace - it guarantees more violence.

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Palestinian Authority closing schools Thursday so they can hold large anti-US rallies (plus Kotel without Dome pics)

The Palestinian Authority Ministry of Education announced the closure of all schools Thursday.

It called on its staff, teachers, high school students, universities and colleges to participate in rallies scheduled Thursday at noon.

Ordinary Palestinians aren't bothered enough by the Trump announcement to "spontaneously" demonstrate. he government itself is essentially busing in students to make the rallies look much larger than they are.

Meanwhile, the lights at the Al Aqsa Mosque and Dome of the Rock were turned off as part of the protest.

So I took some screenshots from various webcams to show the Kotel without the gold dome dominating it.

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Surprise! The poll that shows Americans against embassy move used biased questions

Major polls that have been quoted in the media that suggest that Americans are against the move of the US Embassy from Tel Avvi to Jerusalem are biased against the move.

The Washington Post says:

Americans are more lukewarm on the subject, including Republicans. The University of Maryland’s November 2017 Critical Issues Poll found that Americans disagreed with the idea of moving the embassy immediately by a 2-to-1 margin after being offered arguments for or against doing so. Republicans were about split on the question.

While readers of this blog might know the history of the issue, most Americans don't. So pollsters will give a brief synopsis of the issues and then ask people their opinion.

If the synopsis is wrong, the poll is invalid - because for a significant number of respondents, all they know about the issue is what the poll says!

In the case of this Critical Issues Poll, the head of the organization behind the poll is Shibley Telhami, an Arab professor born in Israel.

First he asks people which of the two sides they most closely identify with, by skewing the facts:

Q60. President Trump pledged during his 2016 presidential campaign to move the U.S. Embassy in Israel from its current location in Tel Aviv to Jerusalem. But, like previous presidents since Congress passed the 1995 Jerusalem Embassy Act, he has renewed a waiver that will temporarily keep the U.S. embassy in Tel Aviv, based on national security interests. Now tell me the extent to which you agree or disagree with the following statements.

Q60a. The U.S. should not immediately move the U.S. Embassy to Jerusalem. The
international community, including the UN and European allies have not accepted
Israel’s annexation of East Jerusalem, which was occupied in the 1967 War. The U.S.
Government’s position has been that the ultimate status of Jerusalem has to be agreed in
negotiations between the Israelis and the Palestinians. If the U.S. were to move its
embassy to Jerusalem, it would be violating international norms, harming important
relationships worldwide, and generating anti-American sentiments among Arabs and
Muslims globally.

The poll gives 5 reasons not to move the embassy, most of which are irrelevant to moving the embassy to pre-1967 Israel or simply not true.

Q60b. The U.S. should immediately move its embassy to Jerusalem. The Embassy should
be located in Jerusalem to fulfill the president’s pledge, and there is no national security
reason to file an exception to the 1995 Jerusalem Embassy Act. Such an act would serve
to demonstrate the commitment of the U.S. to the State of Israel and to its control over a
unified Jerusalem as its capital.

The main reason to support it are - to show how much the US supports Israel!

No wonder the people chose not to move the embassy by a 2-1 margin.

Now, imagine if the second part was phrased this way:

Jerusalem has been the spiritual home of the Jewish people for 3000 years. Palestinians have never ruled Jerusalem, and under Arab rule access to holy places was limited. The city that was a neglected slum under Arab rule is now a beautiful city with access to all. Every country in the world is allowed to choose where its capital would be, and Israel should be no exception. It is time that the US recognizes the plain fact that Jerusalem is already Israel's capital, where its government offices and parliament are.

All facts, all accurate - and all anathema to Shelby Telhami.

A similar poll done earlier this year was even more biased:

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12/06 Links Pt2: Shapiro: Trump's Jerusalem Decision 'An Act Of Not Only Political Bravery But Moral Courage'; Phillips: Europe picks the wrong side. Again

From Ian:

Full text of Trump’s speech recognizing Jerusalem as capital of Israel

THE PRESIDENT: Thank you. When I came into office, I promised to look at the world’s challenges with open eyes and very fresh thinking. We cannot solve our problems by making the same failed assumptions and repeating the same failed strategies of the past. Old challenges demand new approaches.

My announcement today marks the beginning of a new approach to conflict between Israel and the Palestinians.

In 1995, Congress adopted the Jerusalem Embassy Act, urging the federal government to relocate the American embassy to Jerusalem and to recognize that that city — and so importantly — is Israel’s capital. This act passed Congress by an overwhelming bipartisan majority and was reaffirmed by a unanimous vote of the Senate only six months ago.

Yet, for over 20 years, every previous American president has exercised the law’s waiver, refusing to move the US embassy to Jerusalem or to recognize Jerusalem as Israel’s capital city.
US President Donald Trump holds up a signed memorandum after he delivered a statement on Jerusalem from the Diplomatic Reception Room of the White House in Washington, DC on December 6, 2017 as US Vice President Mike Pence looks on. (Saul Loeb/AFP)

Presidents issued these waivers under the belief that delaying the recognition of Jerusalem would advance the cause of peace. Some say they lacked courage, but they made their best judgments based on facts as they understood them at the time. Nevertheless, the record is in. After more than two decades of waivers, we are no closer to a lasting peace agreement between Israel and the Palestinians. It would be folly to assume that repeating the exact same formula would now produce a different or better result.

Text of Trump’s official proclamation of Jerusalem as capital of Israel

PM Netanyahu: @POTUS Trump, thank you for today's historic decision to recognize Jerusalem as Israel's capital. The Jewish people and the Jewish State will be forever grateful. pic.twitter.com/6QnvGf9VGW
— Israel Foreign Min. (@IsraelMFA) December 6, 2017

Shapiro On Fox & Friends: Trump's Jerusalem Decision 'An Act Of Not Only Political Bravery But Moral Courage'

On Wednesday morning, in anticipation of President Trump’s expected announcement that the United States would recognize Jerusalem as Israel’s capital, Daily Wire Editor-in-Chief Ben Shapiro appeared on Fox & Friends and was asked to comment on Trump’s decision. Shapiro lauded Trump, calling the decision “an act of not only political bravery but moral courage to move the embassy.”

Shapiro stated:
It's obviously an act of not only political bravery but moral courage to move the embassy. But just to recognize Jerusalem as Israel’s capital — the absurdity of the U.S. policy suggesting that Jerusalem is not Israel’s capital has resulted in idiocies like the fact that my niece, who was born in Jerusalem, it says on her passport Jerusalem and then it doesn’t say which country she’s from.

Jerusalem is only important to the world because of Judaism; it’s important to Christianity because it was first important to Judaism; it’s important to Islam because it was first important to Judaism. Jerusalem is mentioned hundreds of times in the Jewish texts; Jerusalem is in the Israeli national anthem. The culmination of Jewish history, really, was in 1967, with the recapture and the unification of Jerusalem under Judaic rule. The freedom of Jerusalem was only assured, by the way, because of that Jewish rule.

What President Trump is doing is not just a recognition of reality, it’s also an act of political usefulness, because all of the negotiations that have been happening for the past 20 years, for most of my lifetime, all of those negotiations have been preconditioned on stupidity, that Israel was going to give up its eternal capital, which is insane.

Hailing Trump, Jerusalem projects US flag onto Old City walls

The Jerusalem municipality on Wednesday projected the US and Israeli flags onto the walls of the Old City in a show of appreciation over the US President Donald Trump’s expected recognition of the city as the capital of Israel.

From 7 p.m., the red, white, and blue American banner was projected next to the blue and white of the Israeli flag, celebrating the expected announcement. The flags were screened on the 16th century walls from Jaffa Gate in the direction of Mount Zion.

Trump was scheduled to make the controversial announcement recognizing Jerusalem as Israel’s capital and his plan to move the US Embassy there from Tel Aviv at around 8 p.m. Israel time, shifting decades of US policy.

The move will address Israel’s long-standing claim to the city as its undivided capital, but leaders around the world have warned it could harm peace efforts and spark violence.

Jerusalem Mayor Nir Barkat said that Trump’s expected announcement “is a historic declaration that sends a clear message to the entire world that the US stands with the Jewish people, the State of Israel and Jerusalem.”

PreOccupiedTerritory: Jews Arrogantly Continuing To Exist, Prosper (satire)

Despite thousands of years’ worth of efforts to eradicate them and demonstrate the world does not want them, Jews persist in arrogant defiance of popular will by remaining in existence, and in many cases doing well, reports indicate.

Initial efforts to eliminate Jews as a people first occurred during the latter half of the sixth century BCE, historians note, and have continued on and off until the present, but have seen only mixed success at best, owing in part to what scholars call a conceited attitude on the part of Jews as individuals and as a community not to bend to the manifest preferences of those around them that they disappear or be destroyed by violence if possible.

“It’s unheard of for anyone to sustain arrogant defiance for so long,” remarked Ayatollah Ali Khamenei, a leading proponent of efforts to convince Jews to consent to extermination, by force if necessary. “It has to give, since arrogance is one of those flaws that eventually destroys you. So it has to be merely a matter of time before the entire flimsy edifice of Jewish pride comes crashing down. Perhaps we can even install a countdown clock in Tehran to help anticipate that day.”

If I forget thee, O Jerusalem, let my right hand forget her cunning. Let my tongue cleave to the roof of my mouth, if I remember thee not. If I set not Jerusalem above my chiefest joy. (Psalm 137: 5-6)

The deadline for delaying the implementation of the Jerusalem Embassy Act of 1995, has come and gone, with no signature having been affixed to the provision. President Trump hasn't signed the waiver that lets the U.S. off the hook for moving the U.S. embassy to Jerusalem. It is the first time this has happened since 1998, when the provision for what turned out to be a permanent biyearly delay, signed by president after president, took effect.

On Tuesday, President Trump announced he would indeed be moving the embassy, however it would take time to plan and execute the move. Four years. So he's going to sign the waiver yet again.

From the Jerusalem Post:

For technical reasons involving funding, Trump will have to sign that waiver until such time as the doors of a new embassy open in Jerusalem, the official said.

Trump, meantime, has offered his recognition of Jerusalem as the capital of the Jewish State.

With a caveat:

“The specific boundaries of Israeli sovereignty in Jerusalem are subject to final status negotiations,” [U.S.] officials said.

This, in other words, is President Trump saying that Jerusalem is for sale, a property that can be negotiated. Whether or not Israel agrees.

In what universe is this friendship?

This sort of "recognition" is the last thing Israel needs.

Even the president's declaration that the U.S. embassy will be moved to Jerusalem, meanwhile feels like it may be a bluff, a cover-up for kicking that can down the road.

To underscore that new policy understanding Trump [will direct] the State Department to create a plan to relocate the embassy to a site in Jerusalem, the officials said, adding that it could take at least four years to execute the move.

This is nonsense. All the talk of security needs, of finding a suitable physical plant, and etc., is very nice and all these things can be implemented with the passing of time. But moving the embassy technically requires only changing a sign. The American Consulate is already in Jerusalem. The sign affixed to that building can be changed to read "embassy" instead of "consulate."

And that can be done right now. It could have been done in May. It could have been done on the first day that Trump assumed office.

All these years, Jerusalem has been shunned. Her honor sullied. And some people think that Jerusalem has now regained her rightful place in the eyes of the world, as a result of the announcement of the intentions of a sitting U.S. president.

This man, at the same time, says that the borders of Israel's sovereignty in Jerusalem are yet to be determined. This being the case, how is it that those on the Trump Train remain gleeful? What right does anyone have to say that our capital, our holy city, is negotiable?

I am jealous for Jerusalem, as all of us should be. Jerusalem has now been snubbed, scorned, and rebuffed every six months by presidents Clinton (who let the Jerusalem Embassy Act pass by leaving it unsigned on his desk) through Trump. Trump signed the waiver in May, breaking his promise to the Jewish people. Now Trump says he will move the embassy, but will sign the waiver anyway; recognizes Jerusalem, but says it is a piece of real estate to be negotiated.

In this game of opposing statements: a capital that can be negotiated, recognition and nonrecognition, President Trump lets the State Department win, and spurns Jerusalem once more.

And still, everyone knows the truth. Which makes this worse in a way. Makes all these machinations of U.S. officials ugly and dishonest toil. Because we all know that the Jews were in Jerusalem before Christ, and before Mohammed. Before there was an Arab people.

Jerusalem is mentioned 850 times in the Torah, not once in the Quran.

The Jews have prayed for Jerusalem for generations, yearned for it to be rebuilt speedily in our time, at weddings, holidays, and in our daily prayers. No other people has Jerusalem playing so central a part over thousands of years.

The Christians know it. The Muslims know it.

Everyone knows that Jerusalem is ours.

No one gets a pass. Not Donald Trump. Not anyone.

Situating and maintaining the American Embassy in Tel Aviv has been a continuous slap in the face to America's best friend in the Middle East: Israel. It's been an ongoing slap in the face to the Jews. And a slap in the face to God Himself, many times over.

Europe (plus ça change, plus c'est la même chose), which tried and failed to eradicate the Jews, has been desperate to keep Trump from recognizing Jerusalem as a Jewish city. Various Arab and Muslim entities, meanwhile, threaten to go out and kill the Jews should the embassy be moved. And the State Department uses these threats to pressure the president to sign the waiver once more.

It's ironic. The Arabist State Department uses terror as its cover to rob the Jews of Jerusalem. Yet terror is ever-present in Israel. So it's a very flimsy cover that doesn't make sense to any thinking person.

And if Israel is willing to take the risk of terror in exchange for moving the embassy, why should it be any concern of the U.S.?

The State Department fears that the entire region could blow up with internecine warfare (with attendant universal fallout)?

Now? With Israel having cordial relations with so many Arab countries and with said Arab countries having bigger fish to fry?

This is not to say that moving the embassy would not bring an increase in terror. Of course it will. They'll go out and do their thing, the terrorists, if Trump moves the embassy. That will happen even with this half-recognition of Jerusalem using mere words. The terrorists? They'll call terror "legitimate resistance."

Which means: Kill the Jews.

But the terrorists would do that anyway. They're always doing that. Trying to kill us and sometimes succeeding.

If we were to let that stop us, let the killing deter us from reaching important goals, the State of Israel would not now be here. We wouldn't be the awesome friend that we are to the U.S., sharing technology and knowledge, and helping to defend U.S. interests.

If we allowed the terrorists to win, Israel wouldn't be, would cease to exist.

And anyway, the State Department could, if it truly wished, put a damper on that terror. All it has to do is close the wallet. Close the PLO office.

Instead it makes empty threats, and then caves.

Here is something President Trump needs to know: Arabs respect strength. If you live in the Middle East, you come to understand this and appreciate it. You have to meet their bluff, even when it's not a bluff, but the real thing.

It's how you end up on top. The only way.

Weakness is the reason the Arabs hated Obama. They hated him because he actively supported terrorists, and looked away from evil.

For all that it looks as though Trump is the most friendly president ever, a good friend to the Jews, by not changing that sign on the consulate, and by saying that Israel's sovereignty over Jerusalem is negotiable, Trump is slapping the Jews in the face, and showing weakness to the Arabs. He's giving the terrorists a leg up, and pushing the Jews down, forcing them to grovel for tidbits.

It's wrong. And it's no way to treat a friend.

We should all be jealous for Jerusalem's honor. We should demand that justice be done instead of congratulating ourselves over President Trump's recognition/nonrecognition of our capital.

The president should have moved the embassy on day one of his presidency. He should have had that sign on the American Consulate changed.

He could do that today.

It is sad to say, but the president has wronged Jerusalem.

And this has been recorded in the annals of history.

For all time.

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Arabs Threaten Violence If Westerners Don't Stop Stereotyping Arabs As Violent (PreOccupied Territory)

Our weekly column from the humor site PreOccupied Territory.

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Jerusalem, December 6 - Arab threats of violence in response to possible American recognition of this city as Israel's capital has Arab leaders voicing resentment that Western media portray them as violent, local sources reported Wednesday.

Specific legal details remain unresolved, but US President Donald Trump declined to sign the six-month waiver to postpone the move of US Embassy from Tel Aviv to Jerusalem as per a 1995 law, leading to speculation that the administration will recognize Israel's claim to the holy city as its capital. Whereas most countries refuse to acknowledge Israel's claim and all foreign embassies are currently in Tel Aviv, the prospect of American recognition of Israel's connection to Jerusalem has Arab leaders in the region and beyond threatening an explosion of violence and the effective end of any American-brokered peace effort between Palestinians and Israel. At the same time, the leaders take offense that they are depicted in Western media and politics as violent and given to threats of violence merely because they threaten or commit violence in response to developments they dislike.

"If the US recognizes Israel's claims to Jerusalem that will mean the end of an honest role for the US in negotiations," declared Palestinian official Saeb Erekat. "The Arab street will not tolerate such an affront to its honor once the signal is given from Arab governments to riot and to target American facilities or interests in the region. One-sided acceptance of Israeli claims and policies is an affront to Arab honor, as is the expectation that Arabs resort to violence or the threat thereof as a political or diplomatic tool. What a horrible bit of prejudice."

"Western media, adopting a lazy posture, assumes that Arabs are characterized by the tendencies the media notices," lamented commentator Reza Aslan. "It just oozes bias. How do you get from the default Arab reaction to setbacks being violence - as in the response to those Danish cartoons of Muhammad; the Second Intifada; ongoing Palestinian violence; Syria; Iraq; Yemen; Lebanon; Egypt - to the idea that you can only expect Arabs to react with violence when they don't get their way?"

Arab officials warned not to underestimate the violence that will erupt if the stereotyping continues. "We have our red lines," admonished Sheikh Raed Salah of the Islamic Movement, Northern Faction. "One of those is negative portrayals of Arabs or Muslims. We will go to the greatest lengths to protect our collective honor, even violent lengths if necessary, to defend our people from being characterized as predisposed to violence."

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12/06 Links Pt1: Trump to recognize Jerusalem as capital, plan embassy move; Netanyahu: Today, Israel's national identity is recognized

From Ian:

Trump to recognize Jerusalem as capital, plan embassy move, White House confirms

US President Donald Trump will announce in a speech on Wednesday that he is formally recognizing Jerusalem as Israel’s capital, while asking the State Department to formulate a plan for moving the US embassy there from Tel Aviv, White House officials confirmed Tuesday evening.

The recognition of Jerusalem, widely expected to anger the Arab world and cast a shadow over US-led peace efforts, will also be accompanied by Trump committing to support a two-state solution should both Israel and the Palestinians back it, the officials said, in a likely bid by the administration to balance the announcement seen as heavily favoring Israel. Israel’s leadership has warmly welcomed the anticipated Trump moves on Jerusalem.

Trump will stress that the “boundaries” of Israeli sovereignty in Jerusalem require negotiation in the context of a peace accord, the officials said, and they added that his moves do not constitute a change to the status quo at the Temple Mount.

“On December 6, 2017, President Trump will recognize that Jerusalem is the capital of Israel,” one US official said, confirming a series of reports on Trump’s planned speech from the White House, slated for 1 p.m. Wednesday ( 8 p.m. in Israel). The officials spoke on the condition of anonymity.

The White House repeatedly referred to the recognition and embassy move, which will likely take years, as “acknowledging a reality,” noting the city’s role as the seat of Israel’s government but disregarding Palestinian claims there.

Netanyahu: Today, Israel's national identity is recognized

While Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu decided not to comment on the expected American announcement Wednesday declaring Jerusalem Israel's capital, he posted a video hinting at the upcoming event, saying that on this day, Israel's national identity is "being recognized."

U.S. President Donald Trump was expected to officially announce Wednesday that the United States recognizes Jerusalem as the capital of Israel and that it is making preparations to move its embassy there, breaking with longtime U.S. policy and potentially stirring unrest.

In an impromptu video featuring the prime minister riding in his car to the Knesset, Netanyahu remarked that "our historical, national identity is being recognized in important ways every day, but particularly on this day. I will obviously have something to add to this later today on something having to do with Jerusalem."

Jerusalem Mayor: US Embassy move can be done in '2 minutes'

Moving the U.S. Embassy in Israel from Tel Aviv to the holy city could take "two minutes," Jerusalem Mayor Nir Barkat said Tuesday.

Senior U.S. officials have said U.S. President Donald Trump is likely on Wednesday to recognize Jerusalem as Israel's capital while delaying the relocation of the embassy from Tel Aviv for another six months, though he is expected to order his aides to begin planning such a move immediately.

As an outcry grew across the Middle East and among world powers against any unilateral U.S. decision on Jerusalem, officials said that no final decisions had been made.

Barkat said the United States would only have to convert one of its existing assets in the city, such as its existing Jerusalem consulate.

"They just take the symbol of the consulate and switch it to the embassy symbol – two American Marines can do it in two minutes, and give the ambassador, David Friedman, a space to sit in," Barkat told Israel Radio.

Barkat said that this decision could be implemented immediately, and the process of moving the rest of the employees to provide embassy services could take place in a more structured manner.

Trump Happiness Montage

The State Department considered moving the embassy in 1951 - but worried about upsetting Arabs

From a US Department of State Policy Statement marked "secret," February 6, 1951:

A special policy problem has developed as a result of the United Nations concern with Jerusalem. The Israel Government has proclaimed Jerusalem to be the capital of Israel, an act which, while not specifically prohibited by the United Nations, is in clear violation of the spirit of the special status recommended for the city by the General Assembly. The Department advised the Israel Government against moving its capital to Jerusalem, but without effect.

There is thus created the problem of whether the establishment of the capital in this city should be recognized by moving the United States Embassy, which has remained in Tel Aviv, to Jerusalem. Since the UN General Assembly has reach no definite decision on Jerusalem, consideration should be given to moving the Embassy to Jerusalem after consultation with other appropriate nations.

A difficult factor in the Palestine dispute is that the Arab states regard anything favorable to Israel as being unfavorable to themselves. The Department is endeavoring to convince the Arabs of US impartiality as between them and Israel, and care should be taken in dealing with Israel to avoid giving an impression of favoritism which would be resented by the Arabs.

That's been the issue for 66 years. Arabs have veto power over doing what's right because the right thing might be "resented." Therefore, the Arabs have incentive to keep resenting.

Even though, as the author of this memo observed, the Arabs don't look at the pros and cons. They believe in a zero-sum game. If Israel benefits - they lose. Therefore, anything that benefits Israel will be opposed - and therefore, in the logic of Western diplomats, it must be resisted by them as well.

So for those who claim that "now is not the right time" to move the embassy - that has been the official position of the US Government since 1951.

That excuse seems a little hollow when viewed in perspective.

----------------------------

The memo has an interesting bit on UNRWA as well:

The United Nations Relief and Works Agency, set up by the General Assembly in 1949 to administer relief and to undertake development projects for the employment of the refugees, has concluded that the only hope of reintegration for any substantial number of these people lies in resettlement in the Arab countries.

But again, the Arabs considered that solution to be something that would help Israel, and therefore it must be opposed.

The result is nearly seven decades of a "refugee" problem - all because Western diplomats are too afraid to confront Arab intransigence that is meant to do only one thing, to hurt Israel, all other considerations be damned.

Only when the world calls these Arab bluffs will there be clarity on how to reach solutions to solve these problems rather than kowtow to vague fears of Arab anger.

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Arabic media has lots of articles like this one:

Prime Minister Dr. Rami al-Hamdalla met with consuls, ambassadors and representatives of the European Union on Wednesday at his office in Ramallah....
The Prime Minister stressed that the insistence of the US administration on its decision to move the US Embassy to Jerusalem and recognize it as capital of the state of Israel will fuel the conflict and will lead to the growth of violence in the entire region, because Jerusalem does not only mean Palestinians but the peoples and Arab and Islamic countries that reject this decision.

These warnings of violence and murder are all over:

Sheikh Ahmed el-Tayeb, the Grand Imam of Al-Azhar which is the supreme Islamic institution of Sunni Muslims, on Tuesday warned that “the gates of hell” will open if the United States goes through with plans to recognize Jerusalem as the capital of Israel and move its embassy to Jerusalem.
In a statement published following his meeting with former British Prime Minister Tony Blair, el-Tayeb said such a move would ignite the feelings of anger among all Muslims, endanger global peace and increase tensions, divisions and hatred around the world.

Given the supposed inevitability of violence that we have been warned about for several days, you would expect normal leaders to issue calls for calm, to insist that people protest peacefully and to eschew violence.

I cannot find a single call for calm among any Arab or Muslim leaders.

I have often pointed out that what doesn't happen is as newsworthy as what does. Here we have Arab and Muslim leaders, both religious and political leaders, who are warning the West that their people will erupt.

But they aren't asking their people not to. They aren't saying that violence is not acceptable, or that they will ensure that protests don't go out of hand.

No, their warnings to the West are mirrored with a winking message to their own people: We want you to become violent.

They need violence. They need people to be killed, preferably by Israelis. Because if there are no newsworthy violent protests, then they know that they cannot credibly warn of violence the next time they insist that the world do their bidding.

This is what is not being reported by the hundreds of seasoned Middle East journalists and analysts. The warnings of violence are really calls to violence, as the absence of calls for calm proves. Frightening the West with such warnings of irrational Muslims sweeping through the streets, or possible terror attacks, is an integral part of Arab and Muslim political calculus.

Threats of violence is an essential part of Muslim nations' international politics, but it requires some actual violence for it to remain potent.

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Mahmoud Abbas' Fatah party calls for "martyrs in the millions" over Jerusalem

The official Fatah Facebook page includes this poster that says "Good morning! A million martyrs marching on Jerusalem," a phrase that Arafat made famous.

It also has a letter from Fatah Youth saying that US recognition of Jerusalem as Israel's capital would "open all the doors and options before us in defending Arab Jerusalem." - a keyphrase for violence.

The page also approvingly shows Palestinians in Bethlehem - in Manger Square, next to the Christmas decorations - burning images of Trump.

And also this violent, antisemitic cartoon showing "Palestine" cutting the arm off of a stereotypical big-nosed Jew reaching for the Dome of the Rock.

And this poster which makes it very clear that Fatah is calling for armed violence as well.

This is incitement to violence by Mahmoud Abbas is directly responsible for.

But it is incitement that the world ignores - because the idea that he is a "man of peace" cannot be contradicted, even from explicit hate like this coming from the organization he leads.

(h/t Ibn Boutros)

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