Trump recognizes Jerusalem as Israeli capitol
To understand why, it is important to understand the history of the city. The Old Testament describes in 2 Samuel 5 how King David conquered the city and made it his capital, over 3000 years ago. It later describes in 1 Kings 8 how David’s son, King Solomon, built the Holy Temple and installed the Ark of the Covenant there. Since then, Jews have always faced Jerusalem in their daily prayers. It is the center of the Jewish faith and the core of Jewish history.Muslims turn towards Mecca when they pray their awful Religion of Peace. The only reason Jerusalem "means" something to them is when they want to delegitimize Israel and find ways to endanger it to terrorism.
The Bible also tells the story of how the Jews were exiled from Jerusalem by the Babylonians, and later returned to rebuild the Temple. Another exile happened after 70 A.D., when the Romans destroyed the Second Temple and the city itself. Still, many Jews remained, and Jews worldwide prayed for 2,000 years for a return to “Zion.” Jews have been the largest ethnic group in Jerusalem for nearly 200 years, and a majority since the mid-nineteenth century.
Jerusalem is also holy to Christians and to Muslims, though it is less central to either. And under Israeli sovereignty, all religions have enjoyed the freedom to worship at their respective holy sites. The Temple Mount — or Haram ash-Sharif, to Muslims — has only been closed when there are imminent security threats, as radicals have sometimes used that holy site to attack Jews worshipping at the Western Wall — the last remnant of the Temple — below.
I've just watched the televised broadcast from the White House where Trump has made the announcements. I'm glad that's been accomplished. And it looks like some African embassies are already willing to move their offices to Jerusalem. Unfortunately, as expected, there is Islamic hostility brewing, including Recep Erdogan's over in Turkey:
The spokesman for Turkish President Recep Tayyip Erdoğan said the U.S. was “plunging the region and the world into a fire with no end in sight.” He added that an emergency summit of Muslim nations under the auspices of the Organization of Islamic Cooperation has been scheduled for December 13 in Istanbul.It's pretty clear the ummah's not going to accept, but then, they never have. Only when they abandon Islam will they hopefully accept what even they must surely realize is just.
For now, Trump's to be congratulated for the bold step he's taken in recognizing Jerusalem's validity as Israel's capitol.
Update: some of the major opposition parties in the Knesset have supported Trump's declaration, which is good, although the Meretz party, along with the Arabic parties, are opposed. But Yair Lapid's going about things the right way, voicing his own support for the move.
Labels: anti-americanism, anti-semitism, Christianity, islam, Israel, Israeli Arabs, Jerusalem, jihad, Judaism, Knesset, State Dept, terrorism, turkey, United States, US Congress, war on terror, White House