Leaders praises Trump’s leadership

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The World Jewish Congress on Monday enthusiastically welcomed the United States’ move of its embassy in Israel to Jerusalem, calling it a “critical moment in history” and a “precedent worthy of emulation” by all of Israel’s allies. 

Ronald S. Lauder

“The United States, under the leadership of President Donald Trump, has once again demonstrated its unwavering support of the Jewish State of Israel with formal recognition of Jerusalem as Israel’s rightful capital by relocating its embassy to its natural location,” said World Jewish Congress President Ronald S. Lauder.

“The World Jewish Congress is proud to witness this critical moment in history, and deeply appreciates the strong message that the United States is sending to the international community of the indisputable truth of the Jewish connection to Jerusalem. This is a precedent worthy of emulation, and we hope to see more of Israel’s allies follow suit,” Lauder said.

“Thank you, President Trump.”

Dr Colin Rubenstein, executive director of The Australia/Israel and Jewish Affairs Council said: The move of the US Embassy to Jerusalem is a bold act of American leadership  correcting  a gross historical injustice which left Israel as the only nation in the world effectively disallowed from choosing its own capital. It overturns a strange rejection of empirical reality that has long persisted even though Jerusalem has been the Jewish state’s capital since 1950, and the Knesset and other key buildings were built in the western part of the city that is undisputed.

Dr Colin Rubenstein

At a time when there is a campaign underway by the Palestinians and their supporters to re-write history and deny all Jewish links to the city in resolutions of both UNESCO and the UN General Assembly, it is both common sense and basic decency for states to recognise that Jerusalem simply is and has been Israel’s capital, and act accordingly.

No serious peace plan has ever been proposed which would see Jerusalem cease to be Israel’s capital in future, and the argument that delaying recognition helped encourage Israeli-Palestinian peace negotiations simply has not worked in practice. To the contrary, there is in fact every reason to hope that moving the Embassy will help provide a circuit-breaker to Palestinian expectations that time is one their side, which in turn could help jump-start a return to negotiations.

Moreover, as US President Trump made clear in announcing the move in December, there is nothing in  the Embassy move that prevents a Palestinian state having a capital in east Jerusalem as part of a future negotiated two-state peace.

As other nations – from Russia, the Czech Republic and Vanuatu, to Guatemala, Honduras and Paraguay –  follow the US example in recognising Israel’s long-standing capital, all other governments of good will, including Australia’s, should be asking themselves what is genuinely achieved by clinging to an outdated and unjust refusal to acknowledge the basic reality that Jerusalem has long been Israel’s capital and always will be.

Anton Block

The president of The Executive Council of Australian Jewry Anton Block added” “The ECAJ policy platform has for many years affirmed the centrality of Jerusalem historically, religiously and culturally to Jews and Judaism. It has called on the Australian Government to recognise Israel’s sovereignty over Jerusalem and to transfer the Australian embassy from Tel Aviv to Jerusalem.  It is gratifying to see the US fulfil a long-standing commitment by successive Presidents to move its embassy from Tel Aviv to Jerusalem, and of course we would like Australia to follow suit.

Israel has no better friends than Malcolm Turnbull and Julie Bishop.  Nevertheless we respectfully disagree with their view that re-locating the Australian Embassy in Israel from Tel Aviv to Jerusalem, as the US has now done, would harm the prospects for peace.

Recognition of Jerusalem as Israel’s capital is simply a pragmatic acknowledgement of the fact that Jerusalem has been Israel’s seat of government for almost 70 years.  Israel’s parliament, Ministerial offices, Supreme Court, President’s residence, the Prime Minister’s residence and now the US Embassy are all located in the western part of Jerusalem which has been a part of Israel’s sovereign territory since shortly after the State was established.  This area is not a part of the so-called “occupied” territory captured by Israel in the 1967 war.

It follows that recognition of Jerusalem as Israel’s capital does not entail any pre-judgement about the final boundaries of Jerusalem, or alter the status quo concerning the Holy sites. Nor would it pre-empt the outcome of negotiations between Israel and the Palestinians for a two-state solution. The recognition of Jerusalem as the capital of Israel by the US, the Czech Republic, Guatemala, Honduras, Paraguay and even Russia does not preclude the designation of the predominantly Arab neighbourhoods in the eastern part of Jerusalem as the capital of a future Palestinian state, if this were to be part of a comprehensive peace agreement.

The cynical manipulation by Hamas of its own people, including children, to sacrifice their lives in order to make a false political point demonstrates yet again how unfit for government Hamas is. No responsible government treats its own people as dispensable pawns for its own ends.  The results are not only tragic for the people concerned, but a travesty.   Once again Palestinian leaders have shown that their true priority is not to establish an independent Palestinian state, but to tear down the world’s only independent Jewish state.”