“Thank you, President Trump,” Israeli prime minister Benjamin Netanyahu proclaimed, “for having the courage to keep your promises!” Netanyahu declared the opening of the US embassy in Jerusalem as a “great day for Israel, a great day for America,” but also “a great day for peace.”
Trump pre-empted the praise with his own prerecorded speech for the ceremony, declaring that “it’s been a long time coming,” and “that for many years, we failed to acknowledge the obvious”:
“This city and this entire nation is a testament to the unbreakable spirit of the Jewish people,” he said. “The United States will always be a great friend of Israel.”
The president went on to express his hope for peace in the region in the video message.
“We extend a hand in friendship to Israel, to Palestinians and to all of their neighbors. May there be peace. May God bless this embassy. May God bless all who serve there, and may God bless the United States of America,” Trump said.
Netanyahu followed Trump’s presentation with a longer address, in which he also personally thanked Jared Kushner and Ivanka Trump. Continuing on a personal reflection, Netanyahu recalled his boyhood days in this same neighborhood, long before it got built up into its modern form. He told the crowd that his mother warned him not to wander too far into the neighborhood as it sat near the green line, and its streets were exposed to sniper fire. “What a difference!” Netanyahu proclaimed:
“We are here in Jersualem,” Netanyahu declared, “and we are here to stay!” That’s been obvious for decades, even as outside militaries and terror groups have tried to push Israel off its land and out of its capital. After the 1967 war, in which Jordan and Syria both lost territory (West Bank and Golan Heights, respectively) after attempting to relieve Egypt by opening new fronts in the east, it’s been clear that Israel (a) saw that territory as a necessary buffer after three separate attempts by Arab nations to invade through them, and (b) would never go back to agreeing that Jerusalem was an “open city.” Pretending otherwise made everyone look foolish and perpetuated false hopes in the Israeli-Palestinian negotiations.
As Jeff B noted earlier today, the most virtuous aspect of Trump’s recognition of Jerusalem as Israel’s capital is the discarding of 50 years of ignoring reality:
I grudgingly hand it to Trump – never in 100yrs did I think the U.S. Israeli embassy would actually be moved to Jerusalem per his campaign promise but by gum he went and did it and demonstrated how pointless the longstanding refusal to acknowledge reality on the ground there was.
As Trump himself said, we refused to acknowledge the obvious for more than fifty years. It’s possible that this will exacerbate tensions and make peace more difficult to achieve, but … what has the fifty years of fantasy diplomacy achieved? We still have Mahmoud Abbas spouting nonsensical genealogical arguments to paint the entire state of Israel as illegitimate and no movement at all on numerous peace proposals offered by previous administrations that played along with Abbas’ nuttiness.
We’ve tried pretending for fifty years. Maybe a hard dose of reality is worth trying at this point. It certainly couldn’t do any worse.
Jerusalem is Israel’s capital. By finally recognizing Jerusalem as Israel’s capital, the United States has chosen fact over fiction. And fact is the only true foundation for a just and lasting peace. https://t.co/u4wNzgrYP4
And count Chuck Schumer as one of the people cheering Trump in this instance:
Schumer: In a long overdue move, we have moved our embassy to Jerusalem. Every nation should have the right to choose its capital. I sponsored legislation to do this two decades ago, and I applaud President Trump for doing it.
Trump is a disruptive actor. It is his style. And his objective is scoring a big deal, ideally a final settlement of the Israel-Pali conflict.
The time is right. The Sunnis are so scared of Iran, they are ready to throw the Palis under the bus. The Saudis have signaled this openly in just the last few weeks. And the Gulf states are on-board (other than Qatar which is getting very hard pressure from the other Gulf oil states for Qatar's limited cooperation with Iran.
The time was right for Trump to move that ball down the field. The train is leaving the station and the Palis have almost missed it. They would be wise to negotiate and settle now because their leverage is declining by the day.
Trump really reduced Pali leverage by moving this embassy. And everybody knows it.
And the game has changed. Trump changed the board. He saw opportunity and exploited it.
And his objective is scoring a big deal, ideally a final settlement of the Israel-Pali conflict.
Right now, it looks as though if anyone can do so it will be Trump. Hell, he might get a third term to give him time to do it.
He scratched Israel's back, now it's their turn to scratch his. Withdraw from the West Bank back to the Green Line and allow the Palestinians to have their own state.
Wanna bet Israel gives Trump the same response they gave every other U.S. President -- Fuck You?
He scratched Israel's back, now it's their turn to scratch his. Withdraw from the West Bank back to the Green Line and allow the Palestinians to have their own state.
Trump won't even ask them for that.
Trump's main objective is just to force the Palis to the negotiating table instead of their usual announcement of non-negotiable items (including the requirement for all Jews to march into the sea and drown themselves).
Trump is ratcheting up pressure on all sides. And Kushner has the Jordanians, the Saudis and Gulf monarchs on board to pressure the Palis. And threaten to cut off funding.
The Palis chose very poorly when they started edging toward the Iranians as the new regional hegemon. It will not be forgotten by the other Arabs. Look at what they're doing to Qatar for an example.
It's all about Iran now. Nothing else matters. Palis? Piffle.
Because he knows their response? The UN has been asking for that since 1967.
About as long as the U.N. has been voting constant anti-Israel resolutions. The U.N. is a declared enemy of Israel. The General Assembly is a joke and an embarrassment. Most U.N. ambassadors don't ever bother to consult their home countries about anything. They're just not important.
And offer them what? Another Oslo? Another Taba?
Their bargaining position is obviously much weaker now. The Arabs are not backing them strongly, leaving only the EU and Iran/Syria as the final holdouts.
Between America and the Gulf oil states, we can just cut off all their aid. All of it. And tell them that it is time for them to make the best deal they can and put an end to it.
The politics of the entire region has revolved around this very tiny group of people on some little thumbnail of low-value real estate. They have bigger fish to fry: Iran's rise as a regional hegemon with breakout capacity as a nuclear power. You can debate whether Iran wants to nuke Israel or the Saudis more. At present, the Iranians are paying the Houthis and supplying them with enough rockets to lob a volley of them into Saudi territory at least every few days. Israel is not similarly under attack by an Iranian proxy (yet).
Iran. Iran. Iran.
Are you getting it yet? Forget the Vermistinians. They're not important any more to any major players.
Yeah, I think about 2 million Arabs and 6 million Jews. Plus another 3 million Palestinians in the West Bank and another 2 million Palestinians in Gaza.
So, what happens if Israel annexes everything in pursuit of a single-state solution? They're outnumbered at the ballot box.
Meaning, they steal all the land and deny the Palestinians the right to vote. Yeah, that'll work.
