Moving US Embassy to Jerusalem is a bad idea

January 5, 2017


President Trump's idea to move the US Embassy from Tel Aviv to Jerusalem is a bad idea.

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There was a shock, surprise, and anger that the United States, at the urging of Israel and its allies in Congress, moved the official US embassy to Jerusalem.  President Trump signed the documents on his desk and then released that order throughout the world.  Since then, there have been small riots in Arab cities, and diplomatic anger as well.  The United Nations and many members of the European Union are against it since many leaders within the U.N. feel that accepted reconciliation by both parties for the Israeli-Palestinian conflict is that Jerusalem shall be part divided into two capitals for two states.

I don't believe President Trump really took the time to figure this out and made this decision based solely on his gut and the "help" of Israeli Prime Minister Bibi Netanyahu, US Ambassador to Israel David Friedman, and Sheldon Adelson, and certain Republicans in Congress, all of whom are against a two-state solution for Israel and Palestine.

There are many Jews throughout the world who want a peaceful end to the Palestinean conflict and want a two-state solution. Not because they see the Palestineans as their true friends, but that in order for Israel to have a safe and secure future, the Palestinean issue must be addressed.  In fact, former Prime Minister Ehud Barak is in agreement with this argument (disclosure: I heard Mr. Barak echo these sentiments in a speech I heard in Redondo Beach in 2016).  However, Israeli society has changed over the years, from the group of early founding Zionists who had a shared sense of destiny with each other, and saw the solution to end Palestinean suffering as part of that shared destiny.  The assassination of Prime Minister Yitzhak Rabin by Yigal Amir, a right-wing extremist, and settler who believed Israel was given to the Jews by God, changed all that.  Over time, those Israelis were replaced with new immigrants to the country by Aliyah (right of emigration to Israel) and the population that had some sympathy toward Palestinians was eroded.  Losing those older Israelis has hurt the peace process considerably.

I cannot believe President Trump did not consider all this before making his order official to move the American embassy from Tel Aviv to Jerusalem.  While rioting in Arab capitals may soon start up again, there is a pause now because Islam's Shia and Sunni communities are beginning a global war against each other.  Saudi Arabia (supported by Israel and the United States) is on one side, and Iran, Yemen, and other affiliated countries on the other side. That may save the Trump Administration some fallout for now over his embassy decision, but over the long haul, this decision will hurt American foreign policy for the foreseeable future.  It will go down as one of the dumbest decisions by an American president and affect the Middle East in a negative direction (that might be irreversible) for last peace.