U.S. Threatens Nations about Moving Its Embassy to Jerusalem

Last updated on: December 21, 2017 at 10:34 am by Kermit Zarley

U.S. Threatens Nations about Moving Its Embassy to Jerusalem 2017-12-21T10:34:08-07:00 Kermit Zarley

LOGO Patheos Explore the world's faith through different perspectives on religion and spirituality! Patheos has the views of the prevalent religions and spiritualities of the world.

In 1981, Israel defied international consensus by declaring all of Jerusalem as the “undivided, eternal capital of Israel” even though Israel had taken possession of East (Old) Jerusalem in the Six-Day War of 1967, so that the UN, according to its principles, regarded it as “occupied territory” that should be returned to its previous owners, the Palestinians, by negotiation. Yet on December 6, U.S. President Donald Trump defied international consensus by announcing that for the first time the U.S. recognizes Jerusalem as the capital of Israel and that next year the U.S. will move its embassy from Tel Aviv to Jerusalem. For decades, all nations with embassies in Israel have located them in Tel Aviv in protest of Israel’s intransigence to settle its conflict with the Palestinians, who desire their own state. They have believed, and I think rightly so, that the status of Jerusalem should be included as an element in peace negotiations between Israel and the Palestinians.

Nikki Haley is the U.S. ambassador to the United Nations (UN). In recent days, and on behalf of the Trump administration, she has made threats to nations who oppose the recent U.S. decision to move its embassy to Jerusalem. Last week, the UN Security Council, which consists of 15 nations as members, with five of them being permanent members which includes the U.S., voted for a resolution to condemn the recent Trump announcement about Jerusalem. As was to be expected, the U.S. voted against the resolution while all 14 other members voted for it. Since there must be a unanimous vote for any UN Security Council resolution to pass, the resolution failed to pass.

Today, the UN General Assembly is taking up the measure, voting on its own resolution to condemn the Trump decision about Jerusalem. Just minutes before the vote is to be taken, Nikki Haley made a speech at the UN in which she again threatened nations that will vote for this General Assembly vote to condemn the U.S. She said when, in the future, nations ask the U.S. for economic or other assistance, the U.S. “will remember” this vote, meaning it will refuse to help nations that vote for this resolution.

That is stupid! Donald Trump has always prided himself as a great negotiator in the business world. He has only been the U.S. president for almost one year, and he has done many things indicating that he is not such a great negotiator. He pulled out of the Trans Pacific Partnership (TPP), and now China is filling that vacuum. He pulled out of the Paris Climate Agreement to the disgrace of the U.S. around the world, since all other 190+ nations voted for the accord. All the while, Trump has made many threats against other nations and partnerships between nations.

During his presidential campaign, Trump trashed the UN itself. One of his criticisms has been that the U.S. pays way too much in dues while other nations are delinquent. That is somewhat of a legitimate argument. But his rhetoric has included statements suggesting the UN is useless, as if the U.S. should pull out of it. Again, that is stupid! This world would have had a lot more wars the past 70+ years if the UN had not existed.

This week, France’s Foreign Minister Jean-Yves Le Drian is in Washington to meet with U.S. Secretary of State Rex Tillerson tomorrow. When Le Drian landed at the airport, he spoke to the media alleging bluntly that President Trump is turning the U.S. into an isolationist nation and that the reputation of the U.S. is declining throughout the world because of it. These threats by Nikki Hailie about the U.S. decision to move the U.S. embassy to Jerusalem is just further evidence of what France’s foreign minister was saying.

Trump threatening other nations, and even carrying through with such threats, about the Jerusalem issue will only hurt the U.S. Moreover, I don’t think this decision about Jerusalem was in the best interests of the U.S. Then, why did Trump do it? It was a campaign promise. Donald Trump wooed the evangelical vote, and that had a lot to do with him getting elected president. A large percentage of evangelicals have always been Christian Zionists. These people unwittingly think they are doing God service and helping Israel and Jews in general by supporting the nation Israel about most anything it says or wants regardless of the ethics of the matter. But that is foolish and it inflames anti-Semitism around the world. Why?

Most people throughout the world can rightly see that Palestinians have been unfairly treated by Israel and sometimes by the U.S. as the sole peace broker. Americans argue against this, citing all of the Palestinian attacks against Israel. But in so arguing, they ignore why Palestinians are angry at Israel. Palestinians are just as entitled to a state as Jews are. There are about the same number of Palestinians in the world as there are Israeli Jews. Palestinians should have achieved their own state a long time ago. It never happened largely because Israel has been opposed to it. And Israel has had way more power than Palestinians have had.

The Jewish Bible says to the Jewish people, “you shall love your neighbor as yourself” (Leviticus 19.18). Guess who said that? The next statement says, “I am the LORD.” It is Israel’s God who said that to Israel. But modern Israel has not loved its neighbor, the Palestinian people. Just the opposite.

Christian Zionists ignore this scripture for Israeli Jews and unwittingly fuel anti-Semitism throughout the world by their carte blanch support of Israel. No one in the U.S. government is a more adamant, and now influential, Christian Zionist than President Trump’s vice president, who is a very vocal evangelical–Mike Pence. These people do not understand–even though God states it repeatedly in the Bible–that God is no respecter of persons. He tells us to be that way also. All Christians should be fair to all people in their dealings with people, and that includes how one views the Israeli-Palestinian conflict.

Now, having said all of this, I believe that giving the entire West Bank, or even just most of it, to the Palestinians in which to establish their own state, with the Gaza Strip joined to it, has always been a terrible proposal as a solution to the Israeli-Palestinian conflict. It has been a terrible idea for both Palestinians and Jews even though this is what Palestinians have wanted. But they have only wanted it due to geographics; that is, this is the way the land was settled. But that should not be the main determining factor in trying to solve this problem. People can be transferred! It has happened. And a lot more people have been transferred to solve conflicts than this number of people. Just think of Germans after WWII, or the India-Pakistan war.

For Israel, it leaves a far too narrow of a space between the Mediterranean Sea and the West Bank, about nine miles, which would be difficult for Israel to defend in case of war with Palestinians or even other Arab states. And for Palestinians to have a state in two separated parcels of land that would have to be joined together by a twenty-mile corridor would be much more difficult to defend and not economically feasible.

I tell about this and a lot more in my book, Palestine Is Coming: The Revival of Ancient Philistia (1990). Get it at Wipf and Stock Publishers. In this book I predict the outcome of this conflict based on my interpretations of certain Old Testament texts in the Bible. It’s happening! See the map image on the front cover of this book.

Israeli-Palestinian Conflict

Donald Trump

Nikki Hallee

U.S. Embassy in Jerusalem

Previous Post

December 20, 2017

NHL Player Zarley Zalapski Dies at 49

Next Post

December 24, 2017 How Long Has Jerusalem Been the Capital of Israel?

Browse Our Archives

Select a Category Angels Billy Graham Blog Description Book Reviews Christian Living Christianity Christology Church History Current Events Deity of Christ? Disarmament Eschatology Evangelicalism Ezekiel 38-39 Film Reviews God Golf Gospel Harmonization Health History Holy Spirit Incarnation? Interview Islam Israeli-Palestinian Conflict Jesus Last Empire Literary Announcements Major Championship Winners Masters Monotheism My Books New Testament Old Testament Politics Primitive Weapons Ryder Cup Science Society of Biblical Literature The Bible The Restitution of Jesus Christ Trinitarianism Trinity? Uncategorized Unconditional Love? War on Terrorism

Select a Month October 2026 September 2026 August 2026 July 2026 June 2026 May 2026 April 2026 March 2026 February 2026 January 2026 December 2025 November 2025 October 2025 September 2025 August 2025 July 2025 June 2025 May 2025 April 2025 March 2025 February 2025 January 2025 December 2024 November 2024 October 2024 September 2024 August 2024 July 2024 June 2024 May 2024 April 2024 March 2024 February 2024 January 2024 December 2023 November 2023 October 2023 September 2023 August 2023 July 2023 June 2023 May 2023 April 2023 March 2023 February 2023 January 2023 December 2022 November 2022 October 2022 September 2022 August 2022 July 2022 June 2022 May 2022 April 2022 March 2022 February 2022 January 2022 December 2021 November 2021 October 2021 September 2021 August 2021 July 2021 June 2021 May 2021 April 2021 March 2021 February 2021 January 2021 December 2020 November 2020 October 2020 September 2020 August 2020 July 2020 June 2020 May 2020 April 2020 March 2020 February 2020 January 2020 December 2019 November 2019 October 2019 September 2019 August 2019 July 2019 June 2019 May 2019 April 2019 March 2019 February 2019 January 2019 December 2018 November 2018 October 2018 September 2018 August 2018 July 2018 June 2018 May 2018 April 2018 March 2018 February 2018 January 2018 December 2017 November 2017 October 2017 September 2017 August 2017 July 2017 June 2017 May 2017 April 2017 March 2017 February 2017 January 2017 December 2016 November 2016 October 2016 September 2016 August 2016 July 2016 June 2016 May 2016 April 2016 March 2016 February 2016 January 2016 December 2015 November 2015 October 2015 September 2015 August 2015 July 2015 June 2015 May 2015 April 2015 March 2015 February 2015 January 2015 December 2014 November 2014 October 2014 September 2014 July 2014 June 2014 May 2014 April 2014 March 2014 February 2014 January 2014 December 2013 November 2013 October 2013 September 2013 August 2013 July 2013 June 2013 May 2013 April 2013

TAKE THE

Religious Wisdom Quiz

True or False: Jacob deceived his father Isaac by pretending to be Esau to receive the blessing.

Select your answer to see how you score.

TRUE FALSE

Books by This Author Books by Kermit Zarley Blog

See All Titles »