President Donald Trump's White House seeming hesitance on to move the U.S. embassy from Tel Aviv to Jerusalem is happening at Israel’s request, according to Mark Zell the co-chair of Republicans Overseas in Israel. Zell said that “Trump has been unequivocally in favor of moving the embassy and remains so… he is proceeding cautiously because of concerns raised by Israeli officials.” Zell is still confident that the embassy will eventually move.
Zell told Haaretz, “Trump has repeatedly stated that his Administration will respect the wishes of the Israeli government and people on issues concerning the Land of Israel in general and Jerusalem in particular. There is no better evidence of this than Washington's historic non-reaction last week to Israel's announcement that it will be constructing 2,500 housing units in Judea and Samaria … I believe Israel will give the green light to the embassy move and when it does, the embassy will come to Jerusalem.
Zell at Republicans Overseas in Israel convention. Flash 90
Although moving the U.S. embassy from Tel Aviv to Jerusalem and recognizing Jerusalem as Israel’s capital were both promises central to Trump’s campaign, regarding the move things are going slow. Sean Spicer, the White House Press Secretary told reporters last week that no decision has been made yet on the subject.
The Palestinian Authority (PA), who dreams of eastern Jerusalem as capital of a Palestinian state was furious with Trump’s intent to make the move. They together with other terror groups threatened that the move would “ignite a fire in the region”. Mahmoud Abbas recently threatened a “political and diplomatic response” if Trump moves the embassy to Jerusalem. He also wrote a letter to Trump warning him that such a move would be crossing a “red line” and could jeopardize peace prospects.
Last week PA officials claimed that Trump told the PA he would not move the embassy to Jerusalem and that he froze all such plans. In an interview on Fox News on Thursday night, Trump wouldn’t discuss the subject saying that “I don't want to talk about it yet. It's too early.”
World discourse has over the last 8 years changed to making terrorists all over the world into victims. Trump is strong enough to reverse the narrative back to calling terrorists terrorists and treating them as such. The threat of “igniting the Middle East” should be believed and squashed with zero tolerance as crime in New York was under Mayor Rudy Giuliani.
Trump has the power and the vision to help. But does Israel want to be helped?