PrintDecember 10, 2017
Stating Reality: Jerusalem Is the Eternal Capital of the Jewish People
Water is wet. 2+2+=4. Jerusalem is the thousands year old eternal and only capital of only the Jewish people in Israel, its eternal homeland.
All of these statements are indisputably true today. But, strangely, many people have problems with the last statement. Ignoring, at best, the concerns of the "expert" flat earthers, and, at worst, the hate-filled threats of violent protest, President Donald Trump (R), acknowledging reality, stated the obvious.
Israel is a sovereign nation with the right, like every other sovereign nation, to determine its own capital. Acknowledging this as a fact is a necessary condition for achieving peace.
It was 70 years ago that the United States, under President Truman, recognized the State of Israel. Ever since then, Israel has made its capital in the city of Jerusalem -- the capital the Jewish people established since ancient times. Today, Jerusalem is the seat of the modern Israeli government. It is the home of the Israeli parliament, the Knesset, as well as the Israeli Supreme Court. It is the location of the official residence of the prime minister and the president. It is the headquarters of many government ministries.
For decades, visiting American presidents, secretaries of state, and military leaders have met their Israeli counterparts in Jerusalem, as I did on my trip to Israel earlier this year.
Jerusalem is not just the heart of three great religions, but it is now also the heart of one of the most successful democracies in the world. Over the past seven decades, the Israeli people have built a country where Jews, Muslims, and Christians, and people of all faiths are free to live and worship according to their conscience and according to their beliefs.
Jerusalem is today, and must remain, a place where Jews pray at the Western Wall, where Christians walk the Stations of the Cross, and where Muslims worship at Al-Aqsa Mosque.
However, through all of these years, presidents representing the United States have declined to officially recognize Jerusalem as Israel’s capital. In fact, we have declined to acknowledge any Israeli capital at all.
But today, we finally acknowledge the obvious: that Jerusalem is Israel’s capital. This is nothing more, or less, than a recognition of reality. It is also the right thing to do. It's something that has to be done.
"It's something that has to be done," Trump stated, because in opposition to all the know it alls knowing little, he rightly judged this course of action to be in the best interests of the United States of America and the pursuit of peace between Israel and the Palestinians. This is a long-overdue step to advance the peace process and to work towards a lasting agreement.
And ages after some Nobel prize-winning physicist proves that ice is dry water, millenniums after some Nobel prize winning-mathematician demonstrates that in far out outer space 2+2 stretches to 5, Israel will forever remain the capital of the Jewish people in their eternal homeland. No terrorist Yasser Arafat Nobel peace prize winner or his pathetic groupies can distort that.
As for the cliched--but somewhat true statement--that Jerusalem is the home of (at least) three monotheistic religions, acknowledging Jewish Israel's sovereignty does not change the reality.
Certain events important to Christianity and Islam, all of which developed after Judaism, occurred in Jerusalem, indeed throughout all of Israel. However the Jews preceded them there and were the only people to consider it their capital. The later religions did not replace or supercede or diminish Judaism and its Jews as some of the adherents of religions believe.
After the 1948 War of Israeli Independence, Jerusalem was divided. Jordan retained control of eastern Jerusalem, (now erroneously called "Arab" east Jerusalem), Israel the western portion. Under the agreement ending the war, all religions and groups were to have access to their own religious sites and other institutions. Israel conscientiously lived up to its signed responsibilities, allowing freedom of religion and movement to all people, maintaining the sacred sites of all religions.
Jordan, violating its end of the agreement (so what else is new?), did not,
Credit: Elder of Ziyon
Whether in exile or living there, "Next year in Jerusalem," is the final plea, summing up Jewish yearnings, at the conclusion of many Jewish holidays. Jews are a people (Jews) and a religion (Judaism) whose home is in its nation (Israel; capital Jerusalem) who make no claims to universalism, aside from some certain behaviors, unlike Christianity or Islam.
Paris, not the Riviera, is the capital of France; Washington D.C., not the original Philadelphia, is the capital of the United States. And no matter the opinion of the U.N., the Muslims, or other deniers of reality, Jerusalem is the capital of Israel. On Wednesday, Trump began to right a great wrong. Will others have the courage to follow?
