Free Republic

The security waiver used by every president since Bill Clinton to avoid implementation of a 1995 law requiring the US embassy in Israel be relocated to the capital city of Jerusalem lapsed Monday night amid speculation President Donald Trump could officially recognize the city as Israel’s capital or even announce an embassy move as early as this week. .....

Israel’s parliament has passed a law requiring a supermajority to relinquish control over any part of Jerusalem, a move that could hamstring the city’s division as part of a peace plan. The amendment passed on Tuesday bars the government from ceding Israeli sovereignty over any part of Jerusalem without approval of at least 80 of the legislature’s 120 members. The law itself can be overturned with a simple majority, however, making it largely symbolic. …

In a trans-Atlantic phone call the young French leader warned the consequences would be severe. However, Mr Tump clearly ignored Mr Macron’s advice and yesterday made the bombshell announcement. Adding his voice to near worldwide condemnation Mr Macron said he ‘deplored’ the US president’s unilateral decision to officially recognise Jerusalem as Israel’s capital, saying that the city’s status should be determined as part of a settlement between the Israelis and the Palestinians. During a news conference in Algiers, Algeria, he said: “It is a regrettable decision that France does not approve of, and that goes against international law and the...

Just three weeks before Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu is set to travel on a state visit to India with the sole Jewish survivor of the horrific 2008 terrorist attack in Mumbai, India’s Ambassador voted to support a United Nations General Assembly resolution rejecting U.S. President Donald Trump’s recognition of Jerusalem as the capital of Israel. Israel filed a formal protest with the New Delhi government, according to the Hebrew-language Ma’ariv newspaper. The vote came less than half a year after a mammoth lovefest wrapped in an outpouring of admiration for all things Indian inspired by Prime Minister Narendra Modi’s state...

Israel has protested to the government of India over the Delhi government's support of the recent motion at the United Nations General Assembly calling for the cancellation of United States President Donald Trump's declaration of Jerusalem as the capital of Israel, Maariv reported. The protest comes two weeks ahead of Israeli Prime Minister Binyamin Netanyahu's reciprocal visit to India after the visit of his counterpart Indian Prime Minister Narendra Modi, this past summer. Israel's Foreign Ministry refused to comment. On Twitter, Indian citizens fumed at their government's decision to vote against Israel, Mida reported. "This isn't why we voted for...

Late Tuesday afternoon and shortly after UN Ambassador Nikki Haley officially announced U.S. foreign aid cuts to Pakistan over terrorism sponsorship, President Trump called out the Palestinians for walking away from peace talks. In doing so, he threatened to withhold financial aid.  It's not only Pakistan that we pay billions of dollars to for nothing, but also many other countries, and others. As an example, we pay the Palestinians HUNDRED OF MILLIONS OF DOLLARS a year and get no appreciation or respect. They don’t even want to negotiate a long overdue...— Donald J. Trump (@realDonaldTrump) January 2, 2018 ...peace treaty...

Lebanese Foreign Minister Gebran Bassil suffered criticism from his fellow ministers over a television interview in which he was shown saying that Lebanon did not have an ideological problem with Israel and was not against it having security. The comments were all the more unusual as they were made to the al-Mayadin television channel, a central Hezbollah mouthpiece. A former government minister called on Bassil to resign and he was also sharply criticized in the Lebanese parliament.. Bassil's office later claimed that al-Mayadin had distorted his comments but could not explain how or what his real intention had been...

© Courtesy WhiteHouse.gov U.S. and Israeli officials reached a closed-door cooperation agreement on how to deal with Iran, according to Israel's Channel 10 News. The agreement, which was reportedly signed on Dec. 12 at the White House, aims to counter Iran's missile and nuclear programs. According to Channel 10, the agreement would translate President Trump 's Oct. 13 speech decertifying the Iran deal into "steps on the ground." The two countries have reportedly decided to set up joint teams to combat Iran in the region. One joint team would grapple with Iran's ties to the Lebanese militant group Hezbollah,...

President Trump has transformed the world’s view of the United States from an anchor of the international order into something more inward-looking and unpredictable. WASHINGTON — President Trump was already revved up when he emerged from his limousine to visit NATO’s new headquarters in Brussels last May. He had just met France’s recently elected president, Emmanuel Macron, whom he greeted with a white-knuckle handshake and a complaint that Europeans do not pay their fair share of the alliance’s costs. On the long walk through the NATO building’s cathedral-like atrium, the president’s anger grew. He looked at the polished floors and...

Iran declared Jerusalem the "capital of Palestine" on Wednesday following a parliamentary vote, according to the country's semi-official Fars news agency. Iran's announcement to recognize the holy city as the “Palestinian capital forever” comes in direct response to President Trump's decision to recognize Jerusalem as the capital of Israel. “It comes in response to the recent U.S. decision to recognize Jerusalem as Israel’s capital in hopes of dealing a blow to Muslims,” said Parliament Speaker Ali Larijani, according to Turkey's Anadolu news agency.

As the UN General Assembly voted to reject America’s recognition of Jerusalem as the capital of Israel, US Ambassador Nikki Haley issued a stern warning: We’ll remember this the next time you come calling for more hard-earned American taxpayer dollars. Most nation-states called her bluff, leaving many to wonder what comes next. If President Trump wants to use his financial leverage at the United Nations to strike at the heart of the anti-America, anti-Israel institutional infrastructure, he should look no further than the agency responsible for Palestinian refugees: the United Nations Relief and Works Agency. By most definitions, refugees are...

Former U.S. Ambassador John Bolton Tuesday applauded cuts to the United Nations budget, saying they are a "real opportunity" for President Donald Trump's administration to rethink the United States' share of what it contributes to the world agency and possibly even pulling out of the U.N. Human Rights Council. "There are plenty of parts of the U.N. system that don't deserve any U.S. funding, let alone a cut," Bolton told Fox News' "America's Newsroom" program. "I think if the administration really wants to review what the options are available to us, they should think about having the U.S. in the...

In another demonization of US President Trump because of his decision to recognize Jerusalem as Israel's capital, Mahmoud Abbas' Fatah Movement compared Trump to Hitler, posting the image above and stating on Twitter that it does not see any difference between them: Posted text in English (all errors in source): "I don't see any different, do you ? #HandsOffAlQuds" [Official Fatah Twitter account, Dec. 14, 2017] Fatah also tweeted the following poster, stating that "Trump is an irrelevant clown":

The past four official Democratic Party platforms have recognized Jerusalem as the capital of Israel. The 2016 party platform read, "While Jerusalem is a matter for final status negotiations, it should remain the capital of Israel, an undivided city accessible to people of all faiths. Israelis deserve security, recognition, and a normal life free from terror and incitement."

Why the president's Jerusalem decision was the right thing to do. The Trump administration vetoed a United Nations Security Council (UNSC) resolution last week that called on the U.S. to rescind its decision to recognize Jerusalem as Israel’s capital, and ultimately move the U.S. embassy from Tel Aviv to Jerusalem, the seat of Israel’s parliament (Knesset), the Supreme Court, and where the Prime Minister and President of the Jewish State reside.  The UNSC resolution drafted by Egypt and backed by 13 other members of the Security Council affirms that “any decision and actions which purport to have altered the character,...

Hamas leader Mahmoud Al-Zahar says the group will shut down the U.S. embassy in Israel once it “liberates Palestine”. Senior Hamas leader Mahmoud Al-Zahar recently threatened that the terrorist group will shut down the U.S. embassy in Israel once it “liberates Palestine”. In an interview on Al-Jazeera on December 17, which was translated by the Middle East Media Research Institute (MEMRI), the Hamas leader also made clear that the group "would not relinquish a single gun, not even a single bullet." “Annihilation will be the fate not only of the Jews, but also of their helpers and of the people...

Goodness is contagious. The Trump presidency will go down in history as a triumph for American freedom and goodwill towards men, a return to America being a force for good across the world. Merry Christmas! Israel says 10 more countries in talks about moving embassies to Jerusalem Honduras reportedly next in line after Guatemala announces relocation of mission; Togo, Paraguay, Romania and Slovakia also floated Following Guatemala’s announcement Monday that it would move its embassy in Israel to Jerusalem, at least 10 other countries are in talks to move their own missions, Deputy Foreign Minister Tzipi Hotovely said. In...

Less than a month after President Trump announced the U.S. would move its embassy in Israel from Tel Aviv to Jerusalem, Guatemala became the first nation to follow his lead, announcing on Christmas Eve that it would move its embassy as well...No other country has their embassy for Israel in Jerusalem, though the Czech Republic has said it is considering such a move.

Despite all the backlash the United States received for its decision to recognize Jerusalem as Israel’s capital and move the embassy from Tel Aviv to the holy city, another country has decided to follow suit. The president of Guatemala announced Sunday that his country plans to move their embassy to Jerusalem as well. "Dear people of Guatemala, today I spoke with the prime minister of Israel, Benjamin Netanyahu. We discussed the excellent relations that we have had as nations since Guatemala supported the creation of the state of Israel," President Jimmy Morales wrote on his official Facebook account."One of the most important topics...

While Mexican leaders have emphatically denounced Republican front-runner Donald Trump’s call to build a wall along the United States’ southern border, Guatemala's President Jimmy Morales is offering a helping hand. In a Spanish-language interview with the New York Times en Español, Morales – a TV comedian before getting elected to the country's highest office – said that he is offering the billionaire businessman bargain workers to build his proposed wall. "To the gentleman who wants to build a wall, I offer cheap labor," Morales said during the interview, according to the Hill. "We have high-quality labor, and we'll gladly build...