White House affirms President Trump is in "Jerusalem, Israel." (Tillerson be damned.) pic.twitter.com/UaTng6uQuP— Noga Tarnopolsky (@NTarnopolsky) May 22, 2017
Is it a big deal?
The Obama administration at least twice – in 2011 and then again last year – corrected photo captions and datelines that had read “Jerusalem, Israel” to “Jerusalem,” reflecting longstanding executive branch policy that the city should not be described as being in any country until there is a final status agreement. (Congress recognized the city as Israel’s capital in 1995.)Maybe it was just — as with Obama — a mistake.
The George W. Bush administration also routinely captioned photos and listed the city on schedules and in news releases as simply “Jerusalem.”
As a candidate, Trump pledged to move the embassy to Jerusalem, Israel’s capital, but since assuming the presidency he has retreated.
ADDED: In July 2012, when he was running for office, Mitt Romney said: “It is a deeply moving experience to be in Jerusalem, the capital of Israel."
That was a powerful statement, Jennifer Rubin writes, since the Obama administration has "repeatedly put out documents suggesting that Jerusalem isn’t in Israel and has attempted to scrub from the White House Web site the reference to Israel’s capital."
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29 comments:
With good ole 57 states, intercontinental railroad, Austrian language Barry, it was surely a mistake, more like a Freudian slip with Trump.
There's a Kansas City, Missouri, and a Kansas City, Kansas. It's one big metropolitan area, separate jurisdictions. If Trump is in the Israeli portion of Jerusalem, the caption is accurate if not politically correct, at least in certain circles.
Obama also caught flack as a candidate when giving speech to AIPCA and remarking that Jerusalem be "undivided." He had to walk that back. The division of Jerusalem, along with the Palestinian right of return, is one of the major hurdles to a negotiated settlement between the two parties. I see the problem as quite intractable at this moment, and I don't think a US president should be significantly involved.
One, of many, problems with the way the White House is operating right now is that no one can tell if this is an important change of policy or just one more screw up.
Jerusalem was half Israel and half Jordan under the famous 1967 borders ( I.e., the 1949 truce line in the Arab League's first attempt at extermination that stale mated.)
But then the ONLY ISSUE is and always has been the political governance of the Temple Mountain, Israel.
The contestants all fiercely want that place, and in 1967 many Jewish soldiers died taking it back.
Peace, peace, peace, but it won't happen until that real estate title is quieted.
It is almost certainly no mistake. Less than a week ago, the MSM was publishing stories about how the Trump administration was in disarray because Ambassador to the UN Nikki Haley said Jerusalem was part of Israel and White House Spokesman Sean Spicer would not confirm that the city is in Israel.
Trump is walking down the long and winding dead end of the peace settlement in Israel.
I read, "Those 2 words together like that"
Then I read, "Beginning shortly"
I'm thinking, "Hmmmm. Beginning shortly...Beginning shortly...What's am I missing...Beginning shortly...?"
Jerusalem? Israel? A big deal? Ask Yahweh.
Trump is surrounded by pussy instinct politicians. He is right but has to negotiate this minefield with every man's hand against him.
Trump doesn't drink. Therefore cocktail parties are not his thing.
In New York and DC, cocktail parties make policy.
Trump meant it as he said it. He also used the term "Islamic" rather than "Islamist" to describe terrorists. Tillerson's girly-girls don't like that, but Trump is right--in both instances.
Another example of a wording change that means something political was in 2009 when I first heard "Myanmar, also known as Burma." Before that, it had been "Burma, also known as Myanmar."
My church refers to Jerusalem as Jerusalem, Palestine. Never mind the fact that there is no country of Palestine. Yet. But the wording is definitely political.
Differentiating from Jerusalem, New York.
Those 2 words together like that.
White House affirms President Trump...
Yeah, that still makes me smile...
@Bob Boyd
Feel free to name your rock band Beginning Shortly.
Or good name for a comedy tour starring Martin Short.
“But it was nothing remotely multicultural that induced Judah Maccabeus to reconsecrate the Temple in Jerusalem in 165 BC, and to establish the date which the soft celebrants of Hannukah now so emptily commemorate. The Maccabees, who founded the Hasmonean dynasty, were forcibly restoring Mosaic fundamentalism against the many Jews of Palestine and elsewhere who had become attracted by Hellenism. These true early multiculturalists had become bored by “the law,” offended by circumcision, interested by Greek literature, drawn by the physical and intellectual exercises of the gymnasium, and rather adept at philosophy. They could feel the pull exerted by Athens, even if only by way of Rome and by the memory of Alexander’s time, and were impatient with the stark fear and superstition mandated by the Pentateuch. They obviously seemed too cosmopolitan to the votaries of the old Temple—and it must have been easy to accuse them of “dual loyalty” when they agreed to have a temple of Zeus on the site where smoky and bloody altars used to propitiate the unsmiling deity of yore. At any rate, when the father of Judah Maccabeus saw a Jew about to make a Hellenic offering on the old altar, he lost no time in murdering him. Over the next few years of the Maccabean “revolt,” many more assimilated Jews were slain, or forcibly circumcised, or both, and the women who had flirted with the new Hellenic dispensation suffered even worse. Since the Romans eventually preferred the violent and dogmatic Maccabees to the less militarized and fanatical Jews who had shone in their togas in the Mediterranean light, the scene was set for the uneasy collusion between the old-garb ultra-Orthodox Sanhedrin and the imperial governorate. This lugubrious relationship was eventually to lead to Christianity (yet another Jewish heresy) and thus ineluctably to the birth of Islam. We could have been spared the whole thing.” (Christopher Hitchens)
There will be peace in Palestine when the majorities of the Israelis and the Palestinians decide it is time to get to some accommodation - not before.
And American meddling, whether official or private, is not going to make that day come any sooner. Rather to the contrary.
Christopher Hitchens is certainly an interesting source on Judaism.
I'm reading Tom Holland's book on the origin of Islam. I understand he is in hiding since it was published.
Nobody bothered Hitch unless it was some Lebanese Muslims.
"Feel free to name your rock band Beginning Shortly.
Or good name for a comedy tour starring Martin Short."
Sounds like a free community college course for people who struggle with abbreviations.
To quote Obama, "Just words."
"Those 2 words together like that." I read them as FU. And U know who U are.
There are certain "let's pretend" formulations that even the Trump's diplomats genuflect to: they won't say that Taiwan is an independent country (even though we would, presumably, seek to protect it from invasion by China); they won't say too much about "Armenian Genocide", as long as we want to be friends with Turkey; and eventually they will sell out the Kurds. So deciding to say that Jerusalem is in Israel could be a big deal.
No deal will be possible as long as the Arabs think that the West will pressure Israel into a continuing series of concessions (not that it works). There can be no peace until Israelis and Palestinians both sincerely accept that the other party will be there for the lifetimes of their children's children and beyond. "Jerusalem, Israel" is a step in that direction. Trump understands BATNA (best alternative to a negotiated agreement). There will be no deal as long as either side believes that it is better off without a deal, so foreclosing those perceptions is a necessary condition to an agreement that the parties intend to honor.
Brought to mind the Crimean War. Book we have (on Amazon/Kindle) about the war begins at the Church of the Holy Sepulchre. Roman Catholics and Eastern Orthodox wrangle - moderated and adjudicated by the Ottomans - over possession and control peaked around 1847-48. Easter fell on same day for both sects one year. Unseemly squabbles, near riots, bashing with candle holders and crucifixes.
Well, that brings to mind the flame wars here at Althouse.
Trump meant it like he meant taking the first direct flight between Saudi Arabia and Tel Aviv.
There are certain "let's pretend" formulations that even the Trump's diplomats genuflect to
Yes, one of Trump's strengths is to see what isn't there. Tall buildings instead of an empty lot. China as an ally against North Korea. The nations of the Middle East uniting against ISIS and then Iran. It's a necessary precondition to make good things happen to look forward, rather than behind. To see what could be, rather than get bogged down in the detail of what is.
John Lennon preferred the word "imagine". Everyone loved him for it.
Considering that fact that the majority of Jerusalem is uncontroversially located within Israeli borders, and that will not change no matter what final settlement is achieved, what is the benefit of denying that Jerusalem is in Israel? There may have been propaganda value in denying the reality of Jerusalem, Israel when the Arabs had a chance to destroy Israel, but I don't see how the denial serves any purpose now. Somewhat akin to the concept of denying paternity before the advent of DNA testing.
I see the possibility of Trump giving this negotiation a chance and if the Palestinians refuse to cooperate and condemn terrorism then just moving the US Embassy to Jerusalem as promised.
R.J. Chatt with Trump you never know until the end but I suspect you might be right. If Trump does move the embassy to Jerusalem then what is left to discuss with respects to Jerusalem? Once the city is recognized as the capital of Israel then what reason would we have to get involved with citywide housing issues and land ownership?
If the American embassy does get moved to Jerusalem, it will be very interesting to see where it ends up: West (Israeli from the very beginning) Jerusalem, versus East (formerly Jordanian) Jerusalem or even the Old City.
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