Alan Molod, Esq., is a Philadelphia attorney who shares his comments on Israel-related and other news of the day. He received the email below from a friend regarding President Trump’s recognition of Jerusalem as Israel’s capital, and made the reply that follows.
“Alan: The United States recognized Israel is capital as being Jerusalem, according to Trump. But tell me, why did they do this? Nobody seems to have an answer to that question. Harrisburg is the capital of Pennsylvania. It could happen to be Scranton or Pittsburgh. I realize that talks are going nowhere, and probably they never will. But to make Jerusalem the capital will infuriate Moslems. Why did they do this?”
Alan replied:
First of all, Trump didn’t make Jerusalem the capital of Israel. Jerusalem is and has been the capital of Israel because Israel decided that Jerusalem is its capital. The United States has no more authority to designate Israel’s capital than my mailman.
About twenty-two years ago, both houses of Congress – in those days Democrats were also very pro-Israel – overwhelmingly passed legislation that the United States should recognize Jerusalem as Israel’s capital and move the embassy there. The act allowed the president to issue six-month waivers to taking such action. When campaigning for president, both George W. Bush and Barack Obama promised to recognize Jerusalem as Israel’s capital and move the embassy there, as the American people’s representatives wished, but neither followed through. Donald Trump made the same pledge, and is following through. I think that is wonderful. Good for him.
You know the Antifa fascists who are able to destroy free speech on the California campuses. They do that by threatening the university that if the university allows a speaker on the campus who the fascist Antifa doesn’t like, they will riot and destroy campus property. What did the campuses do? They stopped allowing conservative thought and pro-Israel sentiment on the campus because they didn’t want to irritate the fascists. So free speech ended there. Jewish students became second-class campus citizens unable to invite speakers they wanted to hear.
Every country on the planet except Israel has been able to have foreign embassies in their capital. Trump makes his announcement and all around the world, including in the USA, people and governments start behaving like California campus administrators. If the Islamofascists want to get their way in the world they just have to threaten violence and everyone will give them their way. Is that really what we want the world to be like? If the Islamofascists start to riot, stop them and they will eventually stop rioting and getting their way.