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Guatemala to move its embassy to Jerusalem on May 16

Guatemalan President announces his country will move its embassy to Jerusalem two days after the United States.

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Guatemalan President Jimmy Morales confirmed on Sunday night that his country will move its embassy in Israel to Jerusalem on May 16, two days after the United States moves its embassy to the Israeli capital.

His announcement came at a speech at the AIPAC Policy Conference in Washington.

“On December 24 of last year, Guatemala was the first country to join the United States and announce that we will be returning our embassy to Jerusalem. I would like to thank President Donald Trump for leading the way,” said Morales.

“I decided to return the Guatemalan embassy to Jerusalem. As a sovereign decision, we recognize Jerusalem as the capital of Israel,” he added.

Earlier on Sunday, Morales met Prime Minister Binyamin Netanyahu, who told him, “Thank you for everything you’re doing, for recognizing Jerusalem as Israel’s capital. I hope soon you will move your embassy to Jerusalem; we hope.”

Morales replied, “It is an honor and it is the right thing to do.”

On Saturday, Guatemala’s Constitutional Court rejected a local lawyer’s attempt to prevent the government from moving its embassy in Israel to Jerusalem.

A court spokesman said the high court’s five magistrates turned down a request from lawyer Marco Vinicio Mejia, who argued in a petition filed in January that the embassy move was contrary to international law. (Click to Source)

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Palestinian official: ‘Nikki Haley needs to shut up’

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American Ambassador to the United Nations Nikki Haley faced criticism earlier this month from a top Palestinian official after a recent U.N. security council meeting in which she directly called out Palestinian leader Mahmoud Abbas on his lack of “courage and the will to seek peace” in the Middle East.

Haley charged that Abbas “rejected any American role in peace talks” and “insulted the American president.” Abbas has said that Palestine would not accept the United States as mediator in their conflict with Israel.

In response, Saeb Erekat, Palestinian Liberation Organization’s secretary general and member of parliament for the Palestinian government, called Haley “impudent” and said she should “shut up.”

The exchange was a product of the United States’ recent decision to move their Israeli embassy from Tel Aviv to Jerusalem, and President Donald Trump declaring Jerusalem as Israel’s capital.

Erekat suggested that the U.S.’s actions amount to attempts at staging a “coup” against the “Palestinian political system,” according to The Times of Israel.

“Nikki Haley needs to shut up and realize that the Palestinian leadership is not the problem,” Erekat said. “Instead, the problem is the Israeli occupation and the policies it continues to pursue. I’m not saying that the we don’t make mistakes; every society and every government makes mistakes.”

“U.S. and Israeli officials are saying that any Palestinian leader who insists on East Jerusalem becoming the capital of Palestine and is committed to the right of return, in accordance with United Nations resolution 194, should be removed from power and replaced,” he added.

During Haley’s speech to the U.N. on Jan. 25,  she encouraged leaders to acknowledge the U.S.’s efforts in promoting peace in the Middle East while simultaneously denouncing the recent actions of Abbas, who has shown that peace may not be his top priority.

“President Abbas declared the landmark Oslo Peace Accords dead. He rejected any American role in peace talks. He insulted the American President. He called for suspending recognition of Israel. He invoked an ugly and fictional past, reaching back to the 17th century to paint Israel as a colonialist project engineered by European powers,” Haley said in her speech.

“A speech that indulges in outrageous and discredited conspiracy theories is not the speech of  a person with the courage and the will to seek peace,” she added.

Coming to Abbas’ defense, Erekat reiterated that Palestinians are not seeking a battle with the U.S.

“We don’t seek a confrontation or a fight with the U.S. administration,” Erekat said. “On the contrary – they are the ones taking several steps.”

Erekat’s comments come just weeks after Palestinians set their sights on challenging Trump’s U.S. embassy move in the International Court of Justice. (Click to Source)

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Erdogan, Pope Form Unholy, Anti-Trump Alliance to Control Jerusalem

Israel is blind to the fact that Messiah Yeshua came the first time as the suffering servant, and will come back the second time as the conquering King of Kings, Lord of Lords. One and the same person.

So Esau went unto Ishmael, and took unto the wives that he had Mahalath the daughter of Ishmael Avraham’s son, the sister of Nebaioth, to be his wife.”  Genesis 28:9 (The Israel Bible™)

A meeting on Monday between Turkish President Recep Tayyip Erdoğan and Pope Francis may have grave implications for Jerusalem as both leaders appear to be building an agenda based upon their joint opposition to US President Donald Trump’s recognition of the city as Israel’s capital.

The meeting, which took place at the Vatican, was already significant in that it was the first visit by a Turkish head of state since diplomatic relations between the Vatican and Turkey were established in 1960. However, a statement released by the Vatican says that both leaders also used the occasion to discuss the ”the status of Jerusalem, highlighting the need to promote peace and stability in the region (Middle East) through dialogue and negotiation, with respect for human rights and international law.”

Both Erdogan and Pope Francis are opposed to U.S. President Donald Trump’s decision to recognize Jerusalem as the capital of Israel. Erdogan responded to the move by calling for an emergency meeting of the OIC. The summit, held in Istanbul, declared “East Jerusalem as the capital of the State of Palestine” and called upon “all countries to recognize the State of Palestine and East Jerusalem as its occupied capital.”

The OIC also declared Trump’s decision “null and void legally” and “a deliberate undermining of all peace efforts” that would give impetus to “extremism and terrorism.”

Erdogan, who spoke by phone with the pope at the time expressing his concerns over Jerusalem, called upon the Vatican in Monday’s meeting to help Turkey and the Muslim world “preserve Jerusalem’s status.”

“We need to work together to preserve Jerusalem’s status,” he said to Pope Francis. “The messages you will convey to the Catholic world on this are important,” Erdogan said, emphasizing that both leaders had agreed to continue joint efforts.

Turkey currently holds the presidency of the Organization of Islamic Cooperation (OIC), a coalition of 57 Muslim states. Islam is currently the second largest religion in the world with 1.6 billion followers, and an alliance between Catholicism, which has 1.2 billion adherents worldwide could very well make a formidable force for advancing an anti-Israel agenda concerning Jerusalem. Moreover, Though the Vatican has enormous influence internationally, it has no military. This deficiency could be offset by an alliance with Turkey which has the largest military in the region.

Prolific end-of-days author and educator, Rabbi Pinchas Winston noted that an alliance between Catholicism and Islam was predicted as an essential step in the process of Moshiach (Messiah). Rabbi Winston referenced a work that goes into detail on the process of the Messianic Redemption called, Kol Hatur (Cry of the Turtle Dove). It was written in the 18th century by Hillel Rivlin of Shklov, a close disciple of Rabbi Elijah ben Solomon Zalman, the leading rabbi of the generation known as the Vilna Gaon.

“This meeting doesn’t make sense historically or logically since Islam and Catholicism have been at war for a millennium,” Rabbi Winston told Breaking Israel News. “It especially doesn’t make sense since they fought over Jerusalem throughout the Middle Ages during the Crusades.”

“But since we are in the age of Geula (Redemption), they are coming together, precisely as described by the Vilna Gaon.”

Rabbi Winston explained that the coming of Moshiach primarily consists of two stages. The return to Israel takes place during the first stage with Moshiach ben Yosef (Messiah from the house of Joseph) and the second stage by Moshiach ben David (Messiah from the house of David).

“Moshaich ben Yosef and Moshiach ben Dovid are described as the shor (bull) and the chamor  (donkey) for Moshiach on the side of kedusha (holiness),” he noted. “Their counterparts are Esau and Ishmael who are the shor and chamor from the side of tumah (impurity).”

“Just as the two Messiahs will appear in the end-of-days, Esau, which is represented by the Catholic Church and Ishmael, which is represented by Islam will appear together in the End-of-Days.”

Despite their conflict with each other over the time span of approximately 1,500 years, Ishmael and Esau actually forged an alliance almost 4,000 years ago when the latter married the daughter of the former.

So Esau went unto Ishmael, and took unto the wives that he had Mahalath the daughter of Ishmael Avraham’s son, the sister of Nebaioth, to be his wife.  Genesis 28:9

Rabbi Winston explained that this unlikely union consisting of two opposing forces will be facilitated by the erev rav (mixed multitude), largely consisting of liberal, left-wing Jews.

“The function of the erev rav is to bring together Esav and Ishmael,” he added. “Today, they are the people who object to Israel’s connection to Jerusalem. The liberal left should object to Islamic values but they are connecting with Islam and bringing together East and West.”

“The Vilna Gaon said that in the end-of-days, there will be a large number of Jews who will take up the cause of Esau and Ishmael at the gates of Jerusalem.”

Pope Francis may actually view an Islamic global agenda as being worthy of support. The pope on Monday presented Erdogan with an “angel of peace” on a bronze medallion, that is seen embracing the northern and southern hemispheres while overcoming a dragon.

“This is the angel of peace who strangles the demon of war,” the pope told Erdogan as he gave him the medallion. “(It is) a symbol of a world based on peace and justice.”

Pope Francis presented Palestinian Authority Chairman Mahmoud Abbas with a similar medallion at the Vatican in May 2015. At the time, the pope said that the “angel of peace” was “destroying the bad spirit of war” and praised Abbas for being an “angel of peace.” (Click to Source)

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The Biblical Significance of Israel’s Capital

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It is Israel’s right to decide the location of its capital, as was spiritually declared by
King David and then legally documented in 1950 when the Israeli Knesset passed
the Jerusalem Law declaring Jerusalem to be the eternal, undivided capital of the
State of Israel.

Declaring Jerusalem to be Israel’s capital does not mark a change in American law. In 1995, President Bill Clinton signed a statute declaring, “Since 1950, the city of Jerusalem has been the capital of the State of Israel.” Naming Jerusalem the capital of Israel is of great theological importance to Christians worldwide.

Christianity begins in Jerusalem, serving as the context for Jesus’ life and earthly ministry. Jerusalem is the city where Jesus was crucified on a cross and laid in a
tomb, where He rose from the grave, and where He showed Himself to many over a 40-day period.

It is the city where many believe Abraham brought Isaac up Mount Moriah and passed God’s test of faith; the city where King Solomon built the magnificent Temple, declaring it a house of prayer for all nations. It is also the city that Isaiah envisioned as the world’s center, where the nations would beat their swords into plowshares* and learn war no more. It is the city over which Jesus wept.

Intertwined Histories

However, the significance of Jerusalem to Christians cannot be separated from the significance of Jerusalem to the Jewish people. Jewish history is Christian history. We are intertwined through our Old Testament Scriptures and spiritual legacy. The Jewish Bible is the Christian Old Testament, and gentiles share this heritage in Jerusalem as their spiritual capital while Israel also legally proclaims it as its national capital. Jewish national history has become Christian spiritual history.

The gentile Church prays for the peace of Jerusalem, as Scripture implores,
and trusts Jerusalem’s peace and prosperity not to manmade institutions
and international efforts, but to the God of all Peace, and to the greatest
Jew who ever lived, Jesus Christ.

Many follow this discussion of moving the American Embassy from Tel Aviv
to Jerusalem and fail to understand what it means to the Evangelical Church.
Read them the words above. (Click to Source)

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Honduras And Panama To Move Embassies To Jerusalem

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Following the U.S. and Guatemalan decisions recognizing Jerusalem as Israel’s capital and announcing plans to move their respective embassies to the ancient city, other Central American countries, Honduras and Panama, have announced to the Palestinian Authority that they are following suit.

The news is a huge political victory for Israel and Israeli sovereignty over the Holy City.  Just days before the announcement, the Czech Republic officially recognized Jerusalem as Israel’s capital and in conjunction with Hungary helped block an E.U. resolution that would voiced opposition to Trump’s recent decision. (Click to Source)

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Israel’s Pivotal Role in God’s Prophetic Timetable

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The U.S. decision to recognize Jerusalem as the capital of Israel came exactly 500 years after the Reformation (1517) and 100 years after the Balfour Declaration (1917). The Balfour declaration came at the end of World War I and stated that Great Britain wanted to establish a Jewish homeland in ancient Judea.

His Majesty’s government views with favor the establishment in Palestine of a national home for the Jewish people, and will use their best endeavors to facilitate the achievement of this object, it being clearly understood that nothing shall be done which may prejudice the civil and religious rights of existing non-Jewish communities in Palestine, or the rights and political status enjoyed by Jews in any other country.

In addition, the Trump declaration came exactly 50 years after Jerusalem was reunited (1967) during the Six-Day War. While we do not know when the actual Jubilee year should be, it is amazing that these four historical and prophetic events came on the 50th year.

Is this what Yeshua meant when He responded to His disciples (after they asked about the restoration of Israel) “It is not for you to know the times or the dates, which the Father has fixed by His own authority” (Acts 1:7). It would appear that God has a set timing for Zion’s restoration, and we are witnessing it in real time.

Sadly, many Bible teachers teach that the disciples were slow of mind in asking this question. John Calvin said of the disciples’ inquiry, “This question has as many problems as it has words.” But Yeshua did not respond as Calvin. He understood that this was the obvious question for any student of the bible.

The disciples were familiar with passages such as Zechariah 14:8-9, which says, “On that day living water will flow out from Jerusalem, half to the Dead Sea and the other half to the Mediterranean Sea. This will happen for the summer as well as the winter. And the Lord will be king over all the earth. In that day it will be—”The Lord is one,” and His name is one.”

Or maybe they were thinking of Jeremiah 30:18, “I will restore the fortunes of Jacob’s tents and have mercy on his dwelling places; and the city will be built upon her own heap, and the palace will remain in its rightful place.”

Yes, it was the most obvious question to ask. Each jump in Israel’s restoration brings us closer to the Millennial age, when the Messiah will return (Rev. 19:11 and following) and fight for Israel (Zech. 14:3-4) and set up His international kingdom in Jerusalem. (Click to Source)

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Evans Mobilizing 31M Followers to Influence World Leaders to Move Their Embassies to Jerusalem

An evangelical leader in Israel is hoping to build momentum for more nations to move their embassies in Israel to Jerusalem.

Mike Evans is the founder of the Friends of Zion Museum and one of President Trump’s biggest cheerleaders.

Evans latest tribute to Trump is a New Year’s Day wish in the form of a four-story digital banner on the facade of the Friends of Zion Heritage Center.  It reads “Thank You, President Trump. You’re making Israel Greater.”

He’s planning a ‘royal welcome’ for Vice President Mike Pence when he arrives in mid-January with over 110 billboards, buses, and even camels.

Perhaps more importantly, Evan is mobilizing his 31 million followers to influence world leaders to stand with Israel and the Jewish people and recognize Jerusalem as Israel’s capital. The objective is to have as many other states join Guatemala’s Evangelical President Morales and follow President Trump’s declaration and move their Embassies to Jerusalem.

Evans pledged that every world leader that says “yes” would receive the Friend of Zion Award.

He recognized Trump’s declaration by presenting him with the Friends of Zion Award during a ceremony in the Oval Office with Vice President Pence and faith leaders representing over 150 million Christians globally.

Evans also initiated a campaign to blanket the city with more than 100 banners that read ‘God Bless Trump.’

The campaign includes a giant banner that reads “God Bless Trump From Jerusalem, DC (David’s Capital) to Washington, DC.”

The campaign began on December 6th when Trump made his historic announcement that he was recognizing Jerusalem as the capital of Israel and would begin the process of moving the US Embassy to Jerusalem, as mandated in the 1995 Jerusalem Embassy Act.

Since then, the banner has appeared on billboards, buses, and even camels.

“We believe what he (Trump) did is going to bring the blessing of God on our own country America,” Evans told CBN News.

“President Trump’s historic recognition of Jerusalem will secure his place in history as the first American president to take that step since the founding of the State of Israel in 1948,” Evans said.

Evans and other evangelical leaders have hailed Trump as a modern-day Cyrus, the Persian King in the Bible who helped the Jewish people return to Jerusalem after the Babylonian exile.

He believes that for hundreds of millions of Evangelical Christians around the globe, Trump is an answer to prayer.  He compares President Trump’s declaration Jerusalem to the 1917 Balfour Declaration that called for a homeland for the Jewish people and President Truman’s acceptance of Israel into the family of nations in 1948.

Evans wrote, “No president in history has ever built such an alliance for the State of Israel and the Jewish people, and no president has courageously stood up for the State of Israel on the global stage as President Trump.”

He founded the Friends of Zion Museum in Jerusalem to tell the stories and history of Christian Zionists who helped the Jewish people throughout history and especially before the founding of the modern state of Israel. (Click to Source)

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The Holy City, a ‘burdensome stone’

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The head of a messianic Jewish ministry says Jerusalem has definitely become the “burdensome stone” prophesized in the Old Testament.

Nikki Haley, U.S. ambassador to the United Nations, warned U.N. members earlier this week that President Trump “will be watching” to see who votes to condemn the U.S. decision to recognize Jerusalem as Israel’s capital. Trump had threatened to cut off financial aid to any country that supported the U.N. resolution. Most countries didn’t heed the warning as the General Assembly approved the anti-U.S. resolution 128-to-9 with 35 abstentions on Thursday.

Major U.S. aid recipients that ignored Trump’s threat and supported the resolution included Egypt, Afghanistan, and Iraq. Joining the U.S. is opposing the resolution were Israel, Guatemala, Honduras, Micronesia, Nauru, Palau, Marshall Islands, and Togo.

The U.N. move followed a call by Muslim leaders for the world body to recognize East Jerusalem as the Palestinian capital. Jan Markell, founder and director of Olive Tree Ministries, points out that Jerusalem doesn’t appear anywhere in the Quran.

“Jerusalem is honestly rather irrelevant to the Islamic world,” she explains. “It may be perhaps their third or fourth most significant location, but unfortunately they’re seizing on President Trump’s declaration of a week or so ago.”

Markell views the vote as “just the further fulfillment of Zechariah 12:3, where Jerusalem is becoming the burdensome stone – at least to portions of the world that do not want to accept … the action that [President Trump] took.”

The ministry leader points to another serious warning in the Bible.

“Joel 3 promises judgment on anybody who divides God’s land – and I just hope we don’t have a president who would do that now,” she shares. “I hope and pray we don’t ever get a president who will divide the land.” Markell says that judgment will come to any nations that do.

Ambassador Haley said the vote will make no difference on U.S. plans to move its embassy to Jerusalem, but it “will make a difference on how Americans look at the U.N., and on how we look at countries who disrespect us in the U.N.”

“And this vote will be remembered,” she warned. (Click to Source)

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Europe’s “Arab Street” Rises Up

Palestinians Protest Trump Announcement

  • Hamas called for a “Day of Rage” — as opposed to the days of peace and harmony the terrorist group ordinarily calls for — but this did not spill out very far.
  • In Stockholm, meanwhile, the new “locals” contented themselves with setting light to the Star of David rather than to real live Jews as their compatriots in Gothenburg had tried to do.
  • The fabled “Arab Street” had been meant to rise up. And it did rise up. But not in the Arab world… instead it lit up in Europe.

It is now a fortnight since President Trump made his historic announcement about the status of Jerusalem. The speech which announced that America would drop the pretence that Jerusalem is not the capital of the State of Israel was relayed live around the world. Across the major networks and the world’s front pages the response was almost unanimous. They proclaimed this a major foreign policy blunder which would lead to any number of problems including — many predicted — an immediate “third intifada.”

The world’s cameras immediately turned to Bethlehem where a small group of enterprising Palestinians burned an American flag for the cameras. This picture went around the world. Otherwise, not very much appeared to be happening. Hamas called for a “Day or Rage” — as opposed to the days of peace and harmony the terrorist group ordinarily calls for — but this did not spill out very far. The Friday immediately following the announcement might have been a flashpoint, tempers being famously frayed after the act of afternoon worship. And yet, as the BBC’s veteran reporter Jeremy Bowen tweeted from the scene, “At Damascus Gate in Jerusalem press pack outnumbering demonstrators.” The fabled “Arab Street” had been meant to rise up. And it did rise up. But not in the Arab world.

In London, the American Embassy was the scene of a protest called for by a number of prominent left-wing and Labour party activists as well as a some Muslim groups. The Labour MP Andy Slaughter was among those who addressed the crowds. This swiftly arranged protest soon degenerated into the usual anti-Semitic rally, with the crowds chanting “From the Rivers to the Sea Palestine will be free” (that is “There will be no Israel at all, not even a sliver of the land”). And the crowd also chanted “Khaybar Khaybar, ya yahud, Jaish Muhammad, sa yahud”. That is, “Jews, remember Khaybar, the army of Muhammad is returning.” For the crowd outside the American embassy in London, threatening Jews with the memory of the seventh century obliteration of a Jewish community near Medina was clearly an entirely appropriate move.

Meanwhile, in Amsterdam, a man carrying a Palestinian flag and wearing a keffiyah headed to a heavily Jewish quarter of the city. There he proceeded to smash in the windows of a kosher restaurant. The whole thing was caught on camera. Again it appeared to make perfect sense to the assailant. The American president recognised Jerusalem as the capital of the state of Israel and this man headed out to carry out a replay of Kristallnacht at a Jewish business on a Dutch street.

Further north, the situation was worse. In Sweden, the nation’s new local traditions immediately followed President Trump’s speech. Spontaneous protests erupted in the city of Malmö on the Thursday and Friday evenings after the Jerusalem announcement. In a city whose name has become a byword for the new, imported form of European anti-Semitism, the crowd shouted chants such as “We’re going to shoot the Jews”. Further north, in the city of Gothenburg, things got even uglier. On Saturday night, a group of around 20 masked men attacked the local synagogue, hurling objects and Molotov cocktails. At the time of the attack, there was a youth event happening at the community centre connected to the synagogue. The 20-30 young people attending the event were herded down into the building’s basement as the gasoline began to be smelled. In Stockholm, meanwhile, the new “locals” contented themselves with setting light to the Star of David rather than to real live Jews as their compatriots in Gothenburg had tried to do.

In Germany, crowds of people recently imported into the country burned the Star of David, as well. Although German politicians condemned the action, taking place as it did in the centre of Berlin, there is little they can do about it. Last year there were 470 anti-Semitic incidents in the German capital alone. This constituted an increase of 16% in the single year from 2015 to 2016. Stories like that of a Jewish schoolchild — the grandson of Holocaust survivors — being forced to leave his Berlin school earlier in the year after being attacked by Muslim students, is just one story that is making some Germans nervous.

In Germany, however, as in Sweden, Holland, Britain and every other country in Western Europe, there is no point in merely being nervous. It appears that the instinct that really has a point is wilful optimism. After this recent spate of attacks, the former Swedish politician Carl Bildt summed up the view of an entire establishment. While lamenting the anti-Semitism and misogyny of many migrants from the Arab world, Bildt wrote:

“Most refugees coming to our country from Muslim countries have adjusted to the values of tolerance central to our society. The fact that many of these people have often fled different systems of intolerance helps that process.”

Mr. Bildt, like so many other politicians of his generation, is now willing to admit some truths about the effects of mass migration which he would never have admitted even a few years ago. But the successor to silence turns out to be this blind, wilful optimism. It recognises that, sure, some of the migrants come to us with rampant Jew-hatred. And sure, some of them do not like women or gays. But in time they will become as friendly towards Jews as any other European.

Perhaps Mr Bildt is right to have his optimistic vision of the migrants becoming just like everyone else. Or perhaps — and a lot rides on this — he is wrong. Considering that possibility, all of these recent events present the most ominous possible warning-sign. Events such as those since President Trump’s announcement should be sending up the clearest possible flare. Yet it is one that too few people are still willing to see. It is taking people time to recognise that the fabled “Arab Street” did light up in recent days. But it lit up in Europe. (Click to Source)

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Haley Vetoes Jerusalem Resolution; Slams Obama For Not Backing Israel a Year Ago

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(CNSNews.com) – As U.S. Ambassador to the U.N. Nikki Haley on Monday vetoed a U.N. Security Council resolution seeking to overturn President Trump’s recognition of Jerusalem as Israel’s capital, she also sharply criticized the Obama administration’s decision a year ago not to back Israel in the same forum, calling the implications of that move “a stain on America’s conscience.”

Monday’s resolution was backed by all other 14 members of the council – the ten temporary members and permanent members Russia, China, Britain and France – but Haley declared that she was casting the sole dissenting vote “proudly.”

“The fact that this veto is being done in defense of American sovereignty and in defense of America’s role in the Middle East peace process is not a source of embarrassment for us,” she told the meeting in New York. “It should be an embarrassment to the remainder of the Security Council.”

Haley challenged the right of other nations to tell the U.S. where it should decide to locate its embassy – and warned that some other Security Council (UNSC) members may have cause to fear similar interference in their domestic decision-making.

“I suspect very few member-states would welcome Security Council pronouncements about their sovereign decisions,” she said. “And I think of some who should fear it.”

(Five of the current members of the UNSC – China, Russia, Egypt, Ethiopia and Kazakhstan are ranked “not free” by the democracy watchdog Freedom House. Two others – Bolivia and Ukraine – are graded “partly free.”)

Haley recalled that Trump made it clear in his Dec. 6 policy announcement that recognizing Jerusalem as Israel’s capital does not prejudge “final status” negotiations between Israel and the Palestinians. And she disputed that the move jeopardizes peace efforts.

“What is troublesome to some people is not that the United States has harmed the peace process – we have, in fact, done no such thing. Rather, what is troublesome to some people is that the United States had the courage and honesty to recognize a fundamental reality,” she said.

“Jerusalem has been the political, cultural, and spiritual homeland of the Jewish people for thousands of years. They have had no other capital city,” Haley continued. “But the United States’ recognition of the obvious – that Jerusalem is the capital and seat of the modern Israeli government – is too much for some.”

Haley used the opportunity to distance the Trump administration from its predecessor’s decision not to veto a controversial resolution targeting Israel.

President Obama’s decision to abstain rather than veto resolution 2334 allowed passage of a measure that describes areas disputed between Israelis and Palestinians – including the Jewish Quarter of Jerusalem’s Old City and the location of the holiest site in Judaism – as “occupied Palestinian territory.”

Haley pointed out that resolution 2334 also “gave new life to an ugly creation of the Human Rights Council: the database of companies operating in Jewish communities.”

The HRC “creation” referred to by Haley is widely seen as benefitting the anti-Israel boycott, divestment and sanctions (BDS) campaign, by identifying companies which will then be targeted by pro-Palestinian activists. Resolution 2334 requires all countries “to distinguish, in their relevant dealings, between the territory of the State of Israel and the territories occupied since 1967.”

“This is an effort to create a blacklist, plain and simple,” Haley said. “It is a stain on America’s conscience that we gave the so-called BDS movement momentum by allowing the passage of Resolution 2334.”

Haley took a final swipe at the Obama administration, putting its abstention last December into historical context.

“For decades, Israel has withstood wave after wave of bias in the U.N. and its agencies,” she said. “The United States has often stood beside Israel. We did not on December 23, 2016.”

“We will not make that mistake again.”

Monday was only the second time the U.S. has vetoed a UNSC resolution in the past decade, having last done so in 2011 – also killing a measure relating to the Israeli-Palestinian issue.

Over that same period Russia has vetoed 17 resolutions (11 relating to its ally the Assad regime, in addition to texts concerning Bosnia, Georgia, Zimbabwe, Burma and Ukraine) and China has vetoed eight (relating to Syria, Burma and Zimbabwe). (Click to Source)