According to Business Insider, President Donald Trump plans to move the US Embassy in Israel to Jerusalem, and he is expected to announce on Wednesday that the US will recognize the city as the capital of Israel, multiple news outlets have quoted senior administration officials as saying.
Trump informed the Palestinian Authority’s president, Mahmoud Abbas, and Jordan’s King Abdullah II of his decision on Tuesday. He is set to deliver a major speech from the White House at 1 p.m. ET on Wednesday.
President Trump is facing opposition from many world leaders, including May of Great Britain, Macron of France, and the Pope.
The Palestinians seek East Jerusalem as the capital of a future Palestinian state, and the United Nations maintains that Israel’s continued occupation of East Jerusalem, which it conquered in the Six Day War in 1967, is illegal under international law. While several countries previously had embassies in Jerusalem, they have now all either moved to Tel Aviv or cut off relations entirely after Israel added a law calling the holy city the “complete and united capital of Israel,” according to Haaretz.
Every six months since 1995, every U.S. president has had to sign a waiver deciding whether or not to move the U.S. embassy in Israel from Tel Aviv to Jerusalem. Since the Clinton administration, they decided each time to keep the embassy where it is, concluding that to move the embassy to Jerusalem would upset the balance in Middle East peace talks. On Tuesday, however, after signing a waiver putting off the move in June, President Donald Trump informed the Palestinian Authority’s President Mahmoud Abbas that he’s going to recognize the contested holy city as Israel’s capital and begin the process of moving the embassy there. The President is expected to sign the waiver once again, however, as it will take some time to actually prepare to move the embassy, purchase land, build the new facilities etc.
The Jerusalem Embassy Act required the U.S. to move the embassy from Tel Aviv to Jerusalem by a set deadline, but conceded that the move could be put off for six months at a time as long as the President “determines and reports to Congress in advance that such suspension is necessary to protect the national security interests of the United States.”
The 1995 law (Jerusalem Embassy Act) states, in part:
(1) Each sovereign nation, under international law and custom, may designate its own capital.
(2) Since 1950, the city of Jerusalem has been the capital of the State of Israel.
(3) The city of Jerusalem is the seat of Israel’s President, Parliament, and Supreme Court, and the site of numerous government ministries and social and cultural institutions.
(4) The city of Jerusalem is the spiritual center of Judaism, and is also considered a holy city by the members of other religious faiths.
(5) From 1948–1967, Jerusalem was a divided city and Israeli citizens of all faiths as well as Jewish citizens of all states were denied access to holy sites in the area controlled by Jordan.
(6) In 1967, the city of Jerusalem was reunited during the conflict known as the Six Day War.
(7) Since 1967, Jerusalem has been a united city administered by Israel, and persons of all religious faiths have been guaranteed full access to holy sites within the city.
(8) This year marks the 28th consecutive year that Jerusalem has been administered as a unified city in which the rights of all faiths have been respected and protected.
(9) In 1990, the Congress unanimously adopted Senate Concurrent Resolution 106, which declares that the Congress ‘‘strongly believes that Jerusalem must remain an undivided city in which the rights of every ethnic and religious group are protected’’.
(10) In 1992, the United States Senate and House of Representatives unanimously adopted Senate Concurrent Resolution 113 of the One Hundred Second Congress to commemorate the 25th anniversary of the reunification of Jerusalem, and reaffirming congressional sentiment that Jerusalem must remain an undivided city.
(11) The September 13, 1993, Declaration of Principles on Interim Self-Government Arrangements lays out a timetable for the resolution of ‘‘final status’’ issues, including Jerusalem.
(12) The Agreement on the Gaza Strip and the Jericho Area was signed May 4, 1994, beginning the five-year transitional period laid out in the Declaration of Principles.
(13) In March of 1995, 93 members of the United States Senate signed a letter to Secretary of State Warren Christopher encouraging ‘‘planning to begin now’’ for relocation of the United States Embassy to the city of Jerusalem.
(14) In June of 1993, 257 members of the United States House of Representatives signed a letter to the Secretary of State Warren Christopher stating that the relocation of the United States Embassy to Jerusalem ‘‘should take place no later than . . . 1999’’.
(15) The United States maintains its embassy in the functioning capital of every country except in the case of our democratic friend and strategic ally, the State of Israel.
(16) The United States conducts official meetings and other business in the city of Jerusalem in de facto recognition of its status as the capital of Israel.
(17) In 1996, the State of Israel will celebrate the 3,000th anniversary of the Jewish presence in Jerusalem since King David’s entry.
Full text of PUBLIC LAW 104–45—NOV. 8, 1995:
Click to access PLAW-104publ45.pdf
Stella's Place 
Good article by Thomas Lifson this morning at American Thinker:
http://www.americanthinker.com/blog/2017/12/president_trumps_jerusalem_embassy_move_is_part_of_a_much_bigger_plan.html
Oh, and mornin’ all!
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Good morning Tundra. I like to shop local. A local shop here has a calendar in their window, if you wear certain colors on certain days you get a treat or specific discount for certain things. Kwanza is listed on a date (didn’t notice when) Christmas is listed but no Hanukkah. We have a significant Jewish population here. We have a synagogue that is active in the community.
I asked the owner why there was no mention of Hanukkah on his calendar, he said that the other events were not in honor of religious celebrations but just “fun” and then he asked me if I knew what day Hanukkah was on 🙄. I suspect he thought I didn’t know what I was talking about. I said December 12th – the 20th. After an awkward silence he mentioned again that his “fun” days had nothing to do with religious observance.
I told him that he was correct about Kwanza but not about Christmas and that he lost my business. Liberals are so easy to silence.
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good on ya, lovely!
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Principal #7 for Kwanza: Imani. “To believe, with all our heart, in our Creator…”. Had to toss religion in when Karenga created it so as to not lose the religious black community. As the holiday moves more towards black separatism some versions of the principles and their definitions leave the religious aspect out but many don’t.
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So much nonsense. I could have just as easily kicked the mope in the teeth and would have the same result as trying to talk to him.
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Good in thought but it might mess with your being able to celebrate Christmas. Then again, might put you into contact with a group you could celebrate Kwanzaa with.
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That you Mr. President. I cried and shouted with happiness about this decision!
IMO and any of you folks who have more knowledge of world dynamics than I do please give your input but I believe President Trump’s intimate and extensive knowledge and friendship with world powers especially the Saudis is what made this possible.
President Trump is meticulously implementing a plan that is further and further marginalizing radical Islamists such as the Palestinians.
The United States, the President of the United States just recognized Jerusalem as the capitol of Israel. His speech gave me chills.
America will have sovereign ground in Israel. In Jerusalem. That alone changes the dynamics in a way that even the simple savage can understand.
The Palestinians will wail, unlike when they celebrated when our towers fell killing thousands of innocent US citizens. Good.
Saudi Arabia will moan but they are more interested in a good relationship with the US than they are in giving a home to the savages of Islam who are not their home grown savages. Saudi Arabi will accept this as will the other ME states other than those who are already our avowed enemies. And as to them they can go to hell.
Israel is projecting the American and Israeli flags onto a wall in Israel.
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The Saudis may publicly whine a bit but remember those billions in arms we’re selling them and that nuke deal we’re brokering? Methinks they don’t protest too much.
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My thoughts exactly. The Saudis are also relishing open season on their fellow Muslims.
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A people whose allegiance is ruled by expedience.
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Absolutely.
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Main point I see here is allowing the UN to determine ANY national borders. Thing behind this is that the Moslem nations surrounding Israel, and others that don’t, are using the UN to impose their demands on Israel’s borders. Think about, some time in the future, when a continuing ****-hole Mexico decides it wants to go to a US-unfriendly UN and demand our Southwestern states (Old Mexico) back as they were illegally seized by military actions.
In 1967 UN member Moslem states illegally attacked Israel, a UN member itself, and got their asses handed to them. Israel liberated Palestine and occupied lands from the attacking states that it required to prevent it from being illegally attacked in the future. BTW, the UN is rife with member nations sitting on top of lands they’ve seized from other member nations in wars…why aren’t they being taken to task?
Israel’s created an environment in Palestine where any religion can peacefully practice, a state that dioesn’t exist in the whining surrounding Moslem states (Hellooooooo Egypt). You can get murdered practicing your non-Moslem religion (some Moslem sects too) in places like…helllloooooo…Egypt, Syria, Saudi Arabia…
Israel’s created a 21st century state in the midst of a sea of Moslem revanchist states, most of whom are still trying to struggle with mid-20th century culture. Israel is light years ahead of the phony state of Palestine, a people yearning to be free so that they can continue to live off of international welfare. A state that’s squandered money it could have used to better it lot on weapons to attack a state that’s bent over backwards to help it.
Let’s move the Embassy to Palestine, give all of Jerusalem to Israel in perpetuity and move Palestine….oh, say out to the middle of the South Pacific Ocean. Just a suggestion.
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Thank you, President Trump, for allowing God to speak to you. His plan continues moving forward.
“For Zion’s sake I will not be silent, and for Jerusalem’s sake I will not rest…” Isaiah 62: 1
The Golden Gate is the oldest of the current gates in Jerusalem’s Old City Walls.
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The way I heard it from our tour guide, this is the gate that Jesus is supposed to come back through. So, it being on the East side and therefore controlled by the Muslims, they have bricked it in to prevent His return.
Somehow they don’t get it.
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https://twitter.com/FansOfPotus/status/938762076612366338
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