Jerusalem gears up to welcome the new U.S. Embassy
Israelis wave national flags outside the Old City's Damascus Gate, in Jerusalem, Sunday, May 13, 2018. Israel is marking the 51st anniversary of its capture of east Jerusalem in the 1967 Middle East war. (Ariel Schalit/AP
JERUSALEM —
The windy road leading up to the city was decorated with fluttering
American and Israeli flags on Monday as signs everywhere declared
“Trump, Make Israel Great.” A popular soccer team even renamed itself:
“Beitar Trump Jerusalem.”
Jerusalem is ready — sort of — for the official opening of the U.S. Embassy.
The
inauguration will take place at the site of the new embassy, which is
really the existing consulate, just with a spanking new plaque.
President Trump will not attend but he will address the high-profile
crowd, including his daughter Ivanka, son-in-law Jared Kushner and a
host of political, religious and communal leaders, via live video
linkup.
For most of Jerusalem’s residents, the wider Israeli public and the country’s leaders, it’s a cause for huge celebration.
At a celebratory breakfast in Jerusalem, Justice Minister Ayelet Shaked called Trump the “Churchill of the 21st century.”
“He
has reversed Chamberlain’s policy of capitulation and teaches the world
that “the landowner has returned,” said Shaked at an event attended by
members of the visiting White House delegation. “Europe insists upon not
learning from history. It closed its eyes to the strengthening of the
Nazis; today it is choosing to close its eyes to the strengthening of
Iran. In such a reality in particular, it is good that the leader of the
free world is President Trump.”
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