High Anxiety Before Trump’s Israel Trip

SHATTERED FANTASY “Moving the American embassy to Jerusalem would not harm the peace process” Netanyahu said. “On the contrary it would advance it by correcting a historical injustice and by shattering the Palestinian fantasy that Jerusalem is not the capital of Israel”

S peculation is rampant that President Trump may announce a plan to move the US embassy in Israel from Tel Aviv to Jerusalem on his coming trip to Israel a move long sought by Jerusalem and its pro-Israel supporters. But speculation equally centers on Trump’s plans to enforce the status quo and leave the embassy in Tel Aviv a move that would please America’s Arab allies and throw a bone to the peace process.

So Trump’s Israel trip scheduled for May 22 to May 24 has raised the anxiety level both on the left and the right given his unpredictable nature.

Last year at AIPAC candidate Trump promised to immediately “move the American embassy to the eternal capital of the Jewish people Jerusalem.” In a position paper released six days before the election Trump’s advisors David Friedman and Jason Greenblatt suggested that “the U.S. will recognize Jerusalem as the eternal and indivisible capital of the Jewish state and move the U.S. embassy to Jerusalem.”