Donald Trump's decision yesterday to recognize Jerusalem as the capital of Israel pissed off the United Nations, the European Union, virtually all of America's allies, Palestinian people everywhere, and even the pope. Intelligence analysts are so worried about an upswell of violence that U.S. diplomats have been ordered to stay away from the city until further notice.
Trump's choice did not, however, seem to bother many of South Florida's major Democrats, some of whom style themselves as the so-called #Resistance to Trump's creeping,
Broward and Miami-Dade Rep. Debbie Wasserman Schultz, arguably the most powerful Democrat in Florida not named Bill Nelson, has spent nearly every waking hour lobbing insults at Trump since he announced his candidacy. That didn't stop her from enthusiastically backing the foreign-policy decision of a man who allegedly eats four McDonald's sandwiches for dinner every night.
“My longstanding view is that Jerusalem is and will remain the undivided capital of Israel, and it should remain a city accessible to people of all faiths," Wasserman Schultz announced in a statement. "I strongly believe that we must continue to work toward a two-state solution that achieves two states for two peoples. We must work toward a day where the entire world recognizes Jerusalem as the capital of Israel, and that can be achieved through final status negotiations. I remain as committed as ever to safeguarding Israel’s future as a Jewish and democratic state, at peace with its neighbors, with Jerusalem as its undisputed capital.”
Likewise, Palm Beach County Rep. Ted Deutch, who has long supported moving the U.S. embassy to Jerusalem, didn't seem to think twice about whether he should reconsider siding with Trump when it comes to a matter of worldwide security.Hearing anger, sadness, disbelief from Arab contacts across the region tonight. Common refrain: Trump's Jerusalem move kills any pretense that the US could be an honest broker in negotiations with Israel.
— Anne Barnard (@ABarnardNYT) December 6, 2017
"Jerusalem is the capital of Israel," he flatly announced in a joint statement with retiring Miami GOP Rep. Ileana Ros-Lehtinen. Both lawmakers serve together on the House Foreign Affairs Subcommittee on the Middle East and North Africa.
The incident mirrors Trump's last major foreign-policy flail in the Middle East earlier thisJerusalem is the capital of Israel. @RosLehtinen and I issued this bipartisan statement - together - after this afternoon’s speech by the President. pic.twitter.com/lszbSnNSKl
— Rep. Ted Deutch (@RepTedDeutch) December 6, 2017
This same crowd of Democrats, including Wasserman Schultz and Nelson, are sponsoring legislation to make boycotting Israeli companies — as part of the so-called Boycott, Divestment and Sanctions (BDS) movement — a felony punishable by up to 20 years in prison. The American Civil Liberties Union has called the bill unconstitutional.
The United States has backed most of Israel's decisions since the nation declared independence in 1948. But moving the U.S. embassy to Jerusalem has long been seen as a "third rail" that even hard-right Republicans in the past have refused to touch. Both Israelis and Palestinians see Jerusalem as the rightful capital of their respective states, and sharing the city has been pitched for decades as a central component of the so-called two-state solution. The Israeli government has shifted to the extreme right in the past
Human Rights Watch says Israel holds the occupied Palestinian territories in the West Bank and Gaza through "repression, institutionalized discrimination, and systematic abuses of the Palestinian population’s rights." Israelis counter and claim, in some cases rightfully, that opposition to the country stems from anti-Semitism and not from legitimate human-rights concerns. Politicians, including Deutch and Sen. Marco Rubio, maintain that the European Union's and United Nations' complaints about Israel's human-rights record are, in reality, examples of anti-Israel bias.
But moving the U.S. embassy to Jerusalem has long been seen as a sign that the United States is fully backing Israel and its hard-line Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu over the concerns of the Palestinian people, who say they're trapped in an apartheid state. If the U.S. slams the door on peaceful negotiations, many fear violence will erupt.
Congress passed a measure in 1995 to formally move the U.S. embassy from Tel Aviv, but because it's a near-certainty that changing cities would cause sectarian violence, every president since Bill Clinton has passed on making the switch. Time will tell whether Trump officially moves the embassy — his comments yesterday went farther than any president before him, but he still kicked the can down the road and signed the same waiver that each of his predecessors did.
Predictably, the Florida GOP electorate is giddy at the news. Rubio, who sponsored a bill under the Obama administration to move the embassy to Jerusalem, published a statement supporting Trump. Miami Rep. Carlos Curbelo, who's running a contentious reelection campaign, also blasted out his support.
Contrast those statements with those of the British government, which spent the day on Twitter repeatedly castigating the United States in Arabic.#Jerusalem is without question the capital of #Israel and should be recognized as such. Denying simple, obvious truths is not a strategy for peace. I commend the Administration for reaching this decision. https://t.co/f4f7JDVTzi
— Carlos Curbelo (@carloslcurbelo) December 6, 2017
The British government "opposes the US decision to move the Embassy," the British Foreign Office wrote yesterday, adding that the move "does not help the chances for peace in the region," which "should be eventually shared capital of Jerusalem for Israeli and Palestinian States."
The European Commission isn't exactly thrilled either:???? ???? ????? ??????? #??????_????: ??????? ?????????? ????? ?????? ???????? ???? ??????? ??? #????? - ??? ?? ????? ?? ??? ?????? ????????. ??? ?? ???? ????? ?? ??????? ??????? ???????? ???????? ??????????? ???????????. #???????? ??? ??? ????? ???? #??????. pic.twitter.com/atiaZngMTH
— ????? ???????? (@FCOArabic) December 6, 2017
Fort Lauderdale Rep. Alcee Hastings appears to be the only Florida Democrat who even bothered to criticize the decision:Serious concern about today’s announcement by the US President Trump on Jerusalem & repercussions this may have on the prospect of peace.
— European Commission (@EU_Commission) December 6, 2017
The EU position remains unchanged. We will increase our work with parties & partners to negotiate status of Jerusalem as capital of 2 states
The United States has long held that the final status of Jerusalem should be determined as part of an agreement negotiated between the State of Israel and the Palestinian leadership. The President’s announcement undercuts this position, as well as the role of the United States as an honest mediator of the conflict.
This announcement puts the security of American embassies and consulates throughout the Arab world at risk. The United States should continue to support a two-state solution that provides for peace, security, and mutual recognition for both the Israeli and Palestinian people.
In some ways, it's easy to see why Wasserman Schultz and Deutch immediately sprang to Trump's defense, in that both lawmakers represent heavily Jewish districts that lean Democratic without tilting too far to the left. But there's a major difference between legitimately supporting Israel and bullheadedly setting off a potential wave of violence across the Middle East and pissing off all of our allies. Florida's Democrats aren't resisting when they're needed most.
