It's a time for rejoicing

As Nadav Shragai says after Trump broke new ground by discarding a terrible policy of past US governments and announced recognition of Jerusalem as Israel's capitol:

Jews have a reason to celebrate U.S President Donald Trump's declaration on Wednesday recognizing Jerusalem as Israel's capital. True, this was not the Edict of Cyrus during our Babylonian exile in biblical times that allowed us to return to our homeland, nor was it the Balfour Declaration a century ago that promised us a national home in our ancestral homeland. Moreover, under U.S. influence, Jerusalem is still undergoing a sort of construction freeze in neighborhoods on the other side of the Green Line – but if the price for what we heard Wednesday night is an extension of construction limitations in Jerusalem, it turns out we profited from our loss. As the Bible says, "The trouble does not warrant bothering the king" (Esther 7:4). After this has been said, we can rejoice.

First and foremost, we celebrate because Trump's declaration crushes, at least for the time being, the dream of those who wish for a divided Jerusalem. It destroyed the houses of cards, contingency plans and imagined scenarios from over the past two decades that have been supported by some American administrations, EU states and various research institutes.

I think it remains to be seen now whether the EU is willing to respect Trump's decision and move their embassies to Jerusalem as well. Anyway, this is vital for the next step of ensuring we can do contruction beyond the so-called green line, and also ensure that illegal building by Islamists will be taken down. Those are just more of the very matters now facing us.