The top Democrat in US Senate has thrown his support for US President Donald Trump’s controversial relocation of the country’s embassy in Israel.
“In a long overdue move, we have moved our embassy to Jerusalem. Every nation should have the right to choose its capital,” Senate Minority Leader Charles Schumer said in a statement. “I sponsored legislation to do this two decades ago, and I applaud President Trump for doing it.”
In a video message played at the embassy opening ceremony, Trump himself asserted that moving the US embassy from Tel Aviv to Jerusalem al-Quds had “been a long time coming” but that past presidents “failed to acknowledge the obvious.”
The Republican president did not take part in the ceremony but the administration sent some of its Jews, including Ivanka Trump, Jared Kushner and Steve Mnuchin, to the VIP event as Israeli forces were busy killing Palestinian protesters not that far away.
Kushner condemned the violence, saying, “As we have seen from the protests of the last month and even today, those provoking violence are part of the problem and not part of the solution.”
Following the relocation, Palestinian leaders have clearly crossed out Washington’s stated role as a mediator to bring about peace in the region.
The Jewish senior advisor to the president of the United States also flattered his father-in-law for sticking to his 2016 campaign pledge.
“While presidents before him have backed down from their pledge to move the American Embassy once they were in office, this president delivered. Because when President Trump makes a promise, he keeps it,” Kushner said from the stage.
On the 2016 campaign trail, the real estate mogul vowed to move the American embassy from Tel Aviv to Jerusalem al-Quds, a move indicating that Washington recognizes the city as the capital of Israel.
Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu praised Israeli forces who killed over 50 Palestinians, among them several children, for “protecting the borders of Israel as we speak today.”
“We are in Jerusalem and we are here to stay,” the Israeli leader said. “Thank you, President Trump, for having the courage to keep your promises.”
The city, which Palestinians believe is the capital of their future state, has been designated as “occupied” under international law since the 1967 Arab War.