Presidents going back to Bill Clinton have talked about doing this but it took Trump to get it done. He is the first American President to officially recognize Jerusalem as the capital of Israel. He made the announcement today.
Here’s a partial transcript of his speech via Legal Insurrection:
After more than two decades of waivers, we are no closer to a lasting peace agreement between Israel and the Palestinians.
It would be folly to assume that repeating the exact same formula would now produce a different or better result.
Therefore, I have determined that it is time to officially recognize Jerusalem as the capital of Israel.
While previous presidents have made this a major campaign promise, they failed to deliver.
Today, I am delivering. I’ve 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.
Israel is a sovereign nation with the right, like every other sovereign nation, to determine its own capital. Acknowledging this is 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.
See the video below:
Unlike previous presidents, President Trump's DELIVERS on Israel:
•First @POTUS to visit #Israel on first trip abroad
•First sitting U.S. president to visit the Western Wall
•First US president to recognize #Jerusalem as Israel’s capitalpic.twitter.com/o0W7XiGaZz— Boston🇺🇸Bobblehead (@DBloom451) December 6, 2017
Israel reacted by projecting their flag with America’s:
The walls of the Old City of #Jerusalem illuminated with US and #Israeli flags ahead of @POTUS's speech.
Israel and America — forever together! pic.twitter.com/58GM6m2yNL
— Hananya Naftali (@HananyaNaftali) December 6, 2017
