Netanyahu quiet on U.S. Embassy move in speech, focuses on Iranian threat

ed note–before everyone reacts and erupts with all the typical noise, please look at  and consider what may be the underlying strategic reasons for doing this, to wit–

1. The ‘friendship’ that Israel has been trying to cultivate with the Arab countries–most notably KSA, Egypt, Jordan, etc–has now been put to the torch over this issue. The Zionist/Sunni alliance against Iran which Israel envisioned whereby Judea, Inc was then in the position of utilizing the militaries of the aforementioned Sunni countries as proxy forces against Iran has just come to a screeching halt.

2. Israel has now been put under the gun as all her surrounding neighbors are seething with rage, thus putting Netanyahu in the position of being forced to come to Trump on his knees begging for assistance and support, a situation which puts Trump in a much better position in terms of his much-discussed ‘peace deal’ between Israel and the Arabs.

3. Please note that as much as Netanyahu is paying lip service to what appears to be conciliatory overtures on the part of the Trump Administration that he is ‘withholding comment’ until the announcement has been formally made, indicating that Netanyahu has not been given any ‘advance copy’ of what is pending.

And finally, please note how this latest development has been characterized by those who business it is to watch and comment on events of this type–that it is largely symbolic and amounts to nothing more than lip service, as the embassy will likely not be moved to Jerusalem anytime in the near future. 

washingtonpost.com

Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu hailed Israel’s “irreplaceable” relationship with the United States in his first public remarks after the Trump administration said it would recognize Jerusalem as the capital of the Jewish state, but he did not address the move directly and instead stressed the threat of Iran.

Netanyahu lauded Israel’s expanding relations with the world as he spoke at a diplomatic conference in Jerusalem, describing a “tsunami of diplomatic, economic, security and technology ties.” However, he said relationships being built with the Arab world could not be fully realized until an agreement is reached on Palestinian territories, and he called on nations around the world to do more to counter expanding Iranian influence.

A spokesman said he is waiting until after the official announcement to comment. On the sidelines of the conference, Netanyahu said that Israel’s “historical and national identity is receiving recognition, especially today,” the newspaper Haaretz reported.

President Trump is expected recognize Jerusalem as Israel’s capital in a speech later Wednesday and order the relocation of the embassy there, according to senior aides. Israel sees Jerusalem in its entirety as its undivided capital, while Palestinians hope that East Jerusalem, which Israel annexed in 1967, will be the capital of their future state.

While Trump’s planned move has been publicly welcomed by many Israeli politicians, it has the potential to unsettle Israel’s growing relations with Sunni Arab nations at a time when they share an interest in countering the perceived threat of Iranian expansion in the region — as well as spark protests and torpedo the White House’s nascent peace efforts. Palestinian officials have reacted with anger, and Trump’s plans have triggered bleak warnings from Middle Eastern nations that say the move would be detrimental to peace and the region’s stability.

The move would shift decades of U.S. policy, going against an international consensus that the status of the city should be decided in a peace agreement between Israelis and Palestinians.

Other members of Netanyahu’s coalition government at the event welcomed the move. Education Minister Naftali Bennett, leader of the right-wing Jewish Home party, called for other countries to follow suit.

“The recognition by the U.S. and other countries will make clear to Palestinians that they must accept the existence of Israel and must conduct real negotiations of peace with Israel,” said Intelligence Minister Israel Katz. “We expect the international community to accept Trump’s decision.”

“Israel is duty bound to express its satisfaction and joy, and, yes, this is their capital and they want this recognition,” said Yossi Mekelberg, a Middle East expert at the Britain-based Chatham House. “But they also know it can cause some trouble and will create reaction, mostly negative. How negative? That’s the question.”

While Arab nations have expressed public discontent, they may decide that their shared interests with the United States and Israel are too strategically important to genuinely jeopardize. Still, the moving of the embassy is not necessarily a priority for Israel, he said.

“They can’t say no, obviously, but I sense that quietly a few people are thinking, thanks but no thanks,” Mekelberg said.

Daniel Shapiro, who served as the U.S. ambassador to Israel for six years under President Barack Obama, said the issue was never “raised seriously as a high priority” by Israeli officials during his tenure. “They had many higher strategic priorities,” said Shapiro, now a senior fellow with the Institute for National Security Studies in Tel Aviv. “Today they think that about the relationship with the [Persian] Gulf states, and those aren’t going to disappear because of this, but certainly it makes things more tense.”

In an attempt to lobby against the move, Palestinian President Mahmoud Abbas has called world leaders, including Pope Francis, Russian President Vladimir Putin and Chinese President Xi Jinping, according to one of his aides.

But Trump appears set on fulfilling his campaign promise, regardless of the regional consequences. Palestinian factions have called for three “days of rage” beginning Wednesday if Trump makes the move. Reaction on the streets was limited in the run-up to Trump’s speech. Citing “widespread calls for demonstrations” in Jerusalem and the West Bank, the State Department advised U.S. citizens to avoid crowds and restricted movement for government employees and their families.

Turkish Prime Minister Binali Yildirim said Wednesday that the U.S. plan to recognize Jerusalem as Israel’s capital is “unlawful” and could bring “irreversible consequences” in the region.

Also Wednesday, Iran’s supreme leader, Ayatollah Ali Khamenei, slammed the decision on Twitter, saying it was taken “out of despair and debility.”

“On the issue of Palestinian territories, their hands are tied & they can’t achieve their goals,” he said. “Palestinian territories will be free.”

Before meeting Wednesday with Secretary of State Rex Tillerson at NATO headquarters in Brussels, Turkish Foreign Minister Mevlut Cavusoglu said it would be a “grave mistake” to recognize Jerusalem as Israel’s capital and move the U.S. Embassy.

“It will not bring any stability or peace, but rather chaos and instability,” he said. “Not only [in] the Muslim world. The whole world is reacting, and the whole world is against the possibility of this decision.”

Cavusoglu said he had already told Tillerson this, “and I will tell him again.”

His comments came one day after Turkey’s president, Recep Tayyip Erdogan, said Jerusalem is a “red line” for the Muslim world and threatened to cut ties with Israel.

“Jerusalem is a very delicate subject in the world of Islam,” Yildirim said at a news conference in the South Korean capital, Seoul, the state-run Anadolu news agency reported.

“Wrong steps in this direction would bring irreversible consequences,” he said, adding that such a move could “bring a new conflict between religions.”

The Egyptian, Saudi and Jordanian governments all released statements on Tuesday warning of the consequences of the decision after their leaders spoke with Trump.