JERUSALEM — President Donald Trump’s declaration that Jerusalem is the capital of Israel and his vow to move the U.S. Embassy to Israel from Tel Aviv is receiving a mixed response worldwide.
The declaration, made Dec. 6, changes decades of policy by the U.S. and other world powers who have located their embassies in Tel Aviv to avoid taking sides in the ongoing Israeli-Palestinian conflict over the sovereignty of Jerusalem. However, the decision has been an option for the U.S. since 1995 when Congress passed a law calling for recognition of Jerusalem as the Israeli capital and for the U.S. Embassy to be moved there. Trump waived the law in June, which many saw as backtracking on a campaign promise.
Trump called his decision “a long overdue step to advance the peace process,” but the global response was mixed. The move divides American Jews, who mostly threw their support to Hillary Clinton in the 2016 election, but it thrills many white American evangelical Christians who have long lobbied for the change.
Patriarchs and bishops in the Holy Land predicted that the president’s actions will lead to “increased hatred, conflict, violence and suffering in Jerusalem and the Holy Land, moving us farther from the goal of unity and deeper toward destructive division.” Some protests in the wake of the decision have turned violent.
In his announcement, Trump committed U.S. support for “a peace agreement that is acceptable to both sides.” (RNS)
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