By: Ali Elizabeth Turner
Odds have been defied once again in a little country the size of New Jersey. Its name is Israel, and on Monday, it turned 70. Additionally, the United States Embassy was moved from Tel Aviv, which is a lovely, yet manufactured modern city, to Jerusalem, the eternal capital of the country. There were, and are, grand birthday celebrations going on throughout the nation, and throughout this week, leading up to the feast of Pentecost. I have had several friends and acquaintances send emails and video clips who are there for the festivities, and I would have loved to have joined them. And of course, there have been bloody “protests” that were also manufactured as part of this week’s proof of a Presidential promise. For decades, there has been a law on the books to move the embassy; Donald Trump is simply applying it in the form of the intention of its framers.
Let’s recap a bit: In 1995, the Jerusalem Embassy Relocation Act was passed, calling for the move to be completed by 1999. 1996 was the 3,000th year celebration of King David’s triumphal entry into the city. In 2017, the 1995 decision was re-confirmed in the form of the 2017 Jerusalem Embassy and Recognition Act. In a word, our lawmakers believe Israel has the right to invite us to have our embassy in their capital, and we have the right to be there. Now it is a part of history.
So, what about the “protests,” and Israel’s response to them? Supposedly the protests are emanating from those who want a two-state solution, but here is the harsh truth. “Palestine,” (which is a manufactured nation—there’s that “M” word again), doesn’t want a two-state solution. They want a one-state solution which does not include Israel on any level. The attempts on the part of Israel to broker a two-state solution with a shared capital have been rejected by the hodge-podge of Hamas, Hezbollah, the Palestinian Authority, and in the days of Yasser Arafat, who was from Egypt, the Palestine Liberation Authority. Those attempts were made in 2000, 2001, 2007, 2008, and reportedly in 2014. In addition, Benjamin Netanyahu has asked them recently to return once again to the negotiating table, but they refuse.
According to Hamas Facebook sites, the call went out to the “protestors” a few months back breach the border to infiltrate Israel during this week, and the intent was not to protest, it was to commit jihad. You can see them for yourself. The operations have been billed as “return rallies,” but they are anything but. Aaron Klein said in a piece he wrote on May 14th, “Hamas has a long and sordid history of using civilians, including children, as human shields, and that is just what it is doing today. It is indisputable that Israel’s borders are being attacked and that we are witnessing an orchestrated, terrorist-sponsored, violent campaign in which civilians and Hamas jihadists alike are trying to overrun the borders of a nation-state. Israel says Hamas jihadists have been instructed to wait behind civilian protesters and approach the border once a breach has been identified.” Interestingly, Aaron, who is Jewish and has dual American-Israeli citizenship, is so well-respected, even in Gaza, that once they came and helped him fix a flat tire when he was in this supposedly disputed territory.
Then there is the issue of the baby who was supposedly killed by the heavy-handed use of tear gas on the part of the IDF as they were trying to disperse the violent crowds. It is not at all uncommon for jihadist mothers to use their children as part of their concept of jihad; the death of a martyr is the only sure way to heaven, according to their understanding of the Islamic faith. Quoting further from Klein’s May 14th article: “A Gazan doctor has admitted – off the record: otherwise, of course, he’d be killed – that the baby died of a pre-existing medical condition.”
Another way of looking at it comes from the words of a very wise old man: “There will be peace in Jerusalem when they love their own children more than they hate ours.” Meanwhile, we pray for the peace of Jerusalem.
From my perch, while the death of the baby is tragic, the attempt to murder people at a birthday party defies comprehension. And I say with a full heart, Happy Birthday, Eretz Israel, and President Trump, thank you for having the courage to uphold the decades-old wishes of our elected lawmakers.
