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Evangelicals and Empty Promises: A Year After Trump’s Embassy Move, Only One Country Has Followed U.S. to Jerusalem

Trump's Middle East strategy is bound to fail

In recognizing Jerusalem as the capital of Isreal in moving the U.S. embassy there Trump rebuffed a 1980 UN
Security Council resolution, reversed decades of U.S. policy and isolated the U.S. from the EU on the question.

With all links

12 months ago, President Donald Trump broke one of the international community’s greatest taboos. However, despite Benjamin Netanyahu’s best efforts to leverage the historic moment, Guatemala is the only other state to have followed suit. Here’s why

By Noa Landau May 14, 2019

* Trump now expects payback from Netanyahu. It could blow up the Middle East
https://www.haaretz.com/israel-news/.premium-trump-now-expects-payback-from-netanyahu-it-could-blow-up-the-middle-east-1.7134850

* Brazil announces opening Jerusalem 'business office' - instead of promised embassy
https://www.haaretz.com/israel-news/.premium-brazil-formally-announces-opening-business-office-in-jerusalem-instead-of-embassy-1.7068760

* Trump cuts aid to pro-Israeli governments in Latin America
https://www.haaretz.com/us-news/.premium-trump-cuts-aid-to-pro-israeli-governments-in-latin-america-1.7067456

[Insert: That cutting of aid, of course, will not help to stem the flow of asylum seekers to the U.S. Trump needs the flow to enhance his tough-guy image going into 2020, and his evangelical supporters will look away from the fact that he is cutting aid to pro-Israeli governments as they look away from all his other behavior in conflict with claimed Christian values.]

On May 14, 2018, President Donald Trump broke a decades-old diplomatic taboo and relocated the U.S. Embassy in Israel to Jerusalem. The move forced the rest of the international community to examine its policy on Israel’s capital for the first time since the 1980s, when a UN resolution deemed that no diplomatic missions should be stationed in the contested city.

In the past year, Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu has made it his mission to turn the diplomatic tide in Jerusalem’s favor, courting numerous countries — especially those with large evangelical communities — and using his close ties with the U.S. president to try to leverage them to relocate their own embassies as well.

[...]

In August 1980, following legislation that enshrined Jerusalem’s status as Israel’s capital, the UN Security Council voted in favor of Resolution 478, which bans diplomatic missions from the city. Since then, no country has opened an embassy in the city, opting instead for consulates and attachés. Until Trump.

[...]

Relocating the U.S. Embassy from Tel Aviv to Jerusalem was one of his early campaign promises. That hardly made him unique: Many presidential hopefuls have made such a vow, only to renege after taking office. But Trump made sure to stress that this was one promise he planned on keeping.

One reason was that Jerusalem was key in his attempt to win over the coveted evangelical vote — already a growing part of his political base thanks to his enlistment of Mike Pence, the devout, born-again Christian, as his vice president.

The evangelical spirit behind the embassy relocation was present during the inauguration ceremony .. https://www.haaretz.com/israel-news/.premium-u-s-opens-jerusalem-embassy-as-gaza-border-clashes-escalate-1.6091443 .. that took place that May day in the Arnona neighborhood of Jerusalem: The small and exclusive group present included a few dozen evangelicals who had come as part of a special delegation from the United States, headed by Pastor John Hagee and Robert Jeffress. After his speech, Hagee asked his audience for a “Hallelujah.”

Other speakers — Jewish and Christian alike — peppered their speeches with biblical quotes .. https://www.haaretz.com/middle-east-news/.premium-u-s-opens-jerusalem-embassy-as-gaza-border-clashes-escalate-1.6084820 .. relating to God and Jerusalem. Even Netanyahu quoted scripture: “Thus saith the Lord of hosts: I am jealous for Zion with great jealousy, and I am jealous for her with great fury” (Zechariah 8:2). Some evangelicals take that line to be a reference to Jesus’ return to Jerusalem.

Netanyahu also hailed the embassy move as a “great day for Israel, the U.S. and peace,” while, in a video speech, Trump reiterated his ongoing support for “reaching a peace deal.” But in stark contrast to the pomp and circumstance in Jerusalem, Gaza saw tens of thousands protesting Trump’s decision .. https://www.haaretz.com/middle-east-news/u-s-embassy-gaza-protests-and-nakba-day-live-updates-1.6078190 .. along the border fence with Israel. Dozens were killed and hundreds wounded as part of the “March of Return” demonstration that continues until this day.

Turning the tide

Even before Trump recognized Israeli sovereignty over Jerusalem at the end of 2017, Netanyahu (then Israel’s foreign minister as well) had long been at work on an aggressive flagship campaign to create a diplomatic wave of embassy relocations.

“There is no doubt that once the U.S. Embassy moves to Jerusalem, and even before that, that other embassies will also relocate [there] too,” he told Israeli diplomats. Israel, he claimed, was in touch with other countries “that will recognize [us] similarly.”

In an event for foreign diplomats to mark Israel’s 70th anniversary, Netanyahu even went so far as to offer special aid to the first countries that relocated their embassies to Jerusalem. “What you can do to advance peace,” he told them, “is moving your embassies here. … The first 10 embassies to move here will get preferential treatment — we will help you.”

Netanyahu even claimed that Israel was “in talks with half a dozen countries seriously considering moving their embassies to Jerusalem.”

If anything, Trump’s announcement had the opposite response to what Netanyahu had hoped for. The leaders of Europe’s biggest countries — German Chancellor Angela Merkel, British Prime Minister Theresa May and French President Emmanuel Macron — as well as the United Nations and European Union, all rejected the unilateral step. Jerusalem’s status, they reaffirmed, would be negotiated as part of a peace deal with the Palestinians.

https://www.haaretz.com/israel-news/.premium.MAGAZINE-a-year-after-trump-s-embassy-move-only-one-country-has-followed-u-s-to-jerusalem-1.7227246

See also:

Faith and freedoms: why evangelicals profess unwavering love for Trump
https://investorshub.advfn.com/boards/read_msg.aspx?message_id=149801072

swanlinbar - Interesting background. Mike Pompeo, the Secretary of Trump
https://investorshub.advfn.com/boards/read_msg.aspx?message_id=149801072

Trump's Middle East strategy is bound to fail
https://investorshub.advfn.com/boards/read_msg.aspx?message_id=148034093