Ricochet is the best place on the internet to discuss the issues of the day, either through commenting on posts or writing your own for our active and dynamic community in a fully moderated environment. In addition, the Ricochet Audio Network offers over 50 original podcasts with new episodes released every day.
Trump Declares Our Formal Recognition of Jerusalem as Capital of Israel
“Long overdue.” From the BBC:
President Donald Trump has announced that the US now recognises Jerusalem as Israel’s capital, overturning decades of official US policy.
Mr Trump described the move as “a long overdue step” to advance the Middle East peace process.
The president said the US would support a two-state solution, if approved by both the Israelis and the Palestinians.
There will be those who declare that this is the ruination of peace talks for the region but the question must be asked, “why this and not the Palestinian Charter, which includes the following:
Published in GeneralArticle 17: The partitioning of Palestine, which took place in 1947, and the establishment of Israel are illegal and null and void, regardless of the loss of time…
Article 18: The Balfour Declaration, the Palestine Mandate System, and all that has been based on them are considered null and void. The claims of historic and spiritual ties between Jews and Palestine are not in agreement with the facts of history or with the true basis of sound statehood. Judaism… is not a nationality (and) the Jews are not one people with an independent personality…
Article 19: Zionism is a colonialist movement in its inception, aggressive and expansionist in its goal, racist in its configurations, and fascist in its means and aims…
My hunch is the possible consequences are all inflated. The Muslim world respects a strong leader.
The Left can certainly
It’s interesting that they want to get there by means of an alliance with a militant religion (both Shia and Sunni flavors) bent on world domination and willing to kill and die to achieve it.
One of the Sunni factions now dominates the Palestinian movement, which denies the historical Jewish tie to Eretz Yisrael (including denying that there ever was a Jewish Temple in Jerusalem,) destroys the physical evidence of the Jewish presence in the land when they can, and promulgates maps of Palestine in which there is no Israel.
You may say that I’m a dreamer, but I’m not the only one who thinks that it’s high time for the U.S. to – in this very concrete way – recognize the truth of the interconnected claims of the Jewish state and the Jewish people to Jerusalem.
Pope Francis doesn’t like it, so it must be the right thing to do.
The (Oslo) Peace Process has been something of a fraud, but paying lip service to the Two State Solution has provided a fig leaf to corrupt polities like the Palestinian Authority or the Gulf States/Saudi when they cooperate with the US (and Israel). They don’t need the fig leaf for the US, but for their own people. So ripping up the fig leaf will make these regimes less stable – or certainly more expensive to keep in place. Whether this is a problem or not depends on whether the US Administration needs these regimes in place or not in the long term – or at least more than it needs the short term domestic political benefit of recognizing Jerusalem as Israel’s capital. I guess only time will tell, but it’s unrealistic to think there will be no cost to US interests at all.
Nothing to worry about. After all, Islam is the religion of peace.
Are you sure? (About that religion of peace thing, that is.) After all, Fatah and I think some others have stated this has “opened the gates of hell” – an unexpected admission!
I believe the President’s comments reiterated his support for a two-state solution if both sides are agreeable to it.
I’m shocked, shocked that you could think that Islam is anything other than the most peaceful religion on this or any other planet in the universe! Didn’t you listen to George W. and Barack H. when they lectured us about the Islamic religion? Islam is definitely the religion of peace and to think otherwise is Islamophobic, homophobic, cis-gendered, and a lot of other really bad made-up words.
It kinda has gotten to that point, hasn’t it?
It kinda has gotten to that point, hasn’t it?
On the other hand, the current Saudi regime is not only saying they’re agin terrorism, at least some of the rivals they seem to be using their current power consolidation purge to isolate and mulct probably were terror financiers. No doubt there will be discreet penalties paid by errant yet favored relatives. Furthermore, there are reports, (or at any rate rumors,) of developments that would pit the Saudis against the Palestinian Authority.
Caroline Glick:
What, Palestinians might be moved from their long-standing embrace of peaceful co-existence to engage in terrorism instead?
Things are shifting; there will be some damage; but it’s no longer the case that Arab states are so focused on Israel. The Saudi-Iran prospect of war is a bigger deal.
President Trump has directed that the 3 year process of moving the embassy begin. I know I read this this morning but can’t find the quote. It does seem a reasonable time-frame to me.
Erdogan has said Turkey might break relations with Israel. That sounds tepid to me. Turkey has already broken those relations temporarily when Israel stopped the attempt to run its blockade by a Turkish merchant ship. But that break didn’t last so it wasn’t really serious, just a message sending ploy. Syria is irrelevant unless as a proxy for Putin. I doubt if Putin will use that tack except maybe to test the waters, briefly. The Saudi King has advised Mr. Trump not to take this step but it seems that came before it was done, so it’s still not clear what Saudi Arabia will do in response. I suspect they will posture and do nothing as they very much need both the US and Israel to help them counter Iran’s designs on domination of the ME. Netanyahu is saying that other countries are indicating they will follow the US move. That is the most important development and its impact will depend on how many and who do so. And how soon. Some countries will no doubt scream for a while, then follow suit when the furor dies down. This is what many countries do whenever the US makes a serious move, simply to show their population that they can ‘Stand up to the Mighty and Evil US.’ It amounts to a lot of heat but no fire.
This move by Mr. Trump simply recognizes reality and is IMHO long overdue. Better late then never though.
Just can’t like this enough without imposing a comment on you-all ;>)
Like, Like, Like, Like,Like, Like, Like, Like,Like, Like, Like, Like,Like, Like, Like, Like,Like, Like, Like, Like,Like, Like, Like, Like,Like, Like, Like, Like,Like, Like, Like, Like,Like, Like, Like, Like,Like, Like, Like, Like,Like, Like, Like, Like,Like, Like, Like, Like,Like, Like, Like, Like,Like, Like, Like, Like
Whew, are my fingers tired.
Titus – these are not representative democracies, so the State’s concerns and priorities are not necessarily the people’s.
I would be surprised if Sunni Arabs felt any existential threat from Iran – though I am fully cognizant the Gulf Monarchies reasonably might.
Hey, representative democracies do not seem to have that much connection between the governing classes & the governed either, if that helps!
I agree that there’s a difference between regimes & the concerns of different classes.
But I don’t expect Saudi Arabia to face trouble now; nor Eqypt; nor, who? Not Iran. Yemen is already in chaos without anyone riding the storm. In Syria, Assad will still be riding the storm. You expect regime collapse in Lebanon or Jordan?
Egypt and Jordan, imho. And Saudi and the Gulf Monarchies will have a harder time squaring the circle.
Lebanon doesn’t recognize Israel anyway, so its Govt is already on the side of the people on this issue.
Much obliged, many thanks.
Hey, just quoting their words. Clearly they disagree with W. and B.O. So, I suppose Islam is Islamophobic.
I tend to think of “Pope Francis likes…” as a warning label.