Tuesday, December 5, 2017

For the moment, Trump silent on US embassy move. Anti-Semites fume


Many nations are 'concerned' over the prospect that US President Donald Trump will move the US embassy in Israel from Tel Aviv to Jerusalem. They are concerned that Trump will recognize Jerusalem as the capital of Israel. 

Nations are concerned because just last week, these nations gathered at the UN to deny that Israel and Jerusalem are connected. They voted to declare that any action by Israel regarding "the Holy City of Jerusalem" will henceforth be termed "illegal and therefore null and void" (Tovah Lazaroff, "151 UN nations vote to disavow Israeli ties to Jerusalem" jerusalempost, December 1, 2017). 

The vote endangers Trump's stated plan to move the US embassy to Jerusalem. The vote is a direct challenge to Trump's right to act on behalf of an ally, in this instance, Israel.

This vote was purely anti-Semitic. It made it illegal for Jewish Israel to do what everyone else could do: choose its own capital city. It suggested that Jews have no right to practice national self-determination.

The vote seemed to empower those who hate Israel to warn,  perhaps even threaten, Trump. The Islamic Turkey warned Trump that an embassy move would provoke a catastrophe (David Rosenberg, "Turkey  warns US of major catastrophe if Trump moves embassy", arutzsheva , December 4, 2017). The Islamic Jordan warned Trump not to move the embassy ("Jordan warns of consequences of moving US embassy to Jerusalem", jordantimes, December 5, 2017). The Islamic Arab League gave the same warning (Arab League:  moving Israel's US embassy to Jerusalem will boost fanaticism", thenational.ae, December 4, 2017). So did the EU (David Rosenberg, "EU to Trump: serious repercussions if US recognizes Jerusalem", arutzsheva, December 5, 2017). 

The world stands united: Jerusalem is to be stripped from Jewish hands, not recognized as Jewish. Trump has to be warned. Moving the embassy would provoke Israel to perform illegal acts (helping the US to prepare for and establish its new embassy). 

Nations fumed. Trump remained silent. He didn't say anything. He did nothing. 

By doing nothing, he quietly allowed a 'waiver' to lapse that would have kept the embassy in Tel Aviv another 6 months. That lapse appears to mean a move to Jerusalem has just been authorized by default. Is that what happened?

In October, 1995, the US Congress passed a law called, the Jerusalem Embassy Act. This law called for the US embassy in Israel to be moved to Jerusalem. It called for Jerusalem to remain an undivided city. It called for the US to recognize Jerusalem as the capital of Israel. 

In other words, the law calls to do what the UN now says cannot be done--recognize Jerusalem as Jewish. 

This 1995 law came with a waiver provision. That provision allows a sitting US President to hold back implementing this law for 'security' considerations. It allows a President to 'waive' the law's enactment for 6 months. 

All US Presidents since 1995 have used this 'waiver' to keep the law from being enacted. Every President toed that line--until now.

By not using the waiver, Trump, in theory, immediately activated the provisions as passed by Congress. In theory, the embassy will now travel to Jerusalem. In theory, the US will recognize Jerusalem as the capital of Israel. 

How will the UN react to that? More important, how will Trump react to any UN move against him for apparently making this decision?  

All of this is theory because no one really knows exactly how the lapsing of the waiver should work. No one knows exactly how the UN vote affects both Israeli actions in Jerusalem and US actions in Jerusalem that aid Israel. No one is even sure exactly what Trump has done.

How will the UN react to that? How will Muslims and their supporters react?

Allowing the waiver to lapse could prove an interesting gambit for Trump. In the days leading to the waiver deadline (December 1st), Trump floated yet again his call to move the embassy. During those lead-up days, Muslims, along with the EU and other anti-Semites who believe Israel has no right to Jerusalem, fumed.

Trump remained silent.

We now wait for tomorrow--Wednesday, December 6, 2017. Of course, there are rumors that Trump will make an 'announcement' tomorrow about Jerusalem and the embassy--maybe.  He's certainly been busy today, we're told, calling Jordan's king and the Palestinian Abbas to declare that he will be moving  the embassy to Jerusalem. 

Did he also tell them when he will do that?

Tomorrow, he should remain silent. He shouldn't announce anything in public.

He should watch if Muslims in Israel and elsewhere call for peace or for a day of rage. He should wait to see if there will be calls to kill Jews. He should watch who calls for a civilized response to the move, and who calls for a barbaric response.

Then, in a few days, he should talk about any barbaric responses that occur. He should take the moral high ground. He should ask, how can one who acts like a barbarian be trusted with peace?

Peace is for a civilized people.  

No comments:

Post a Comment