If only these leaders would jump when Israel pulled their strings! If only the moon were green cheese. If only the Palestinians would cease resisting the illegal occupation and expansion of settlements and instead act like good doormats or POW's in some Nazi gulag!? If only? Alan B.

Why not read the essay featured on Truthdig by Chris Hedges titled Killing Gaza. And listen to the interview with Max Blumenthal. And read Blumenthals book Goliath.

“ … should be replicated by fellow-democracies France, Germany and The United Kingdom ("the Democratic Trio") without delay”. AND AUSTRALIA. France, Germany and the United Kingdom have always been snowflakes, but Australia used to have grit, now very much washed away by Malcolm Turnbull and his sycophantic Marxist coterie.

The Muslim excuse to foment even more trouble must be ignored. Jerusalem is mentioned 669 times in the Old Testament; NOT ONCE in the Koran.

Trumpism is the best thing to happen to the West; to the rest of the gutless wonders gradually moving away from Western values and democracy, he is an embarrassment.

Apparently Conrad Black has just released a book on Trump that is said to go some way to showing up the loony Left f or the idiots and traitors they are: 'Donald J Trump; A President like No Other'. I will certainly be reading it as soon as I can get it.

I meant that other Western countries are embarrassed by him, not that he is an embarrassment, which he is definitely not.

I have downloaded the the book from Google for $15.80. Much better than the $40 odd it is advertised at in hard copy.

"France, Germany and the United Kingdom need to get on the Trump bandwagon and move their Embassies to Israel's declared capital - Jerusalem - following their own worldwide well-established diplomatic practices and precedents."
You think they need to waste public money on a provocative move with no practical benefit just because Trump has?

Jahwol Herr ttbn. Dey zould all chump ven ze glorious leader issues his, thou shalt obey orders! Ve have vays ov making you enjoy yourzelv! Leff ving commie bastards! Alan B.

Hi Ttbn,

I have no problems with Israel's capital being Jerusalem, which it was thousands of years ago, and which is invoked in all the Abrahamic religions as the central place- Judaism, Islam and Christianity. I understand that, in the earliest days of the Islamist aggression out of Arabia, adherents prayed in the direction of Jerusalem, not Mecca, as the 'Rome' of its day.

Which goes some way to explaining how and why Jerusalem is supposed to be so important to Muslims, which has always baffled me. I'm not sure about the veracity of Muhammad flying there from Mecca on a winged horse on the night that he was dying, in order to climb Jacob's Ladder, emanating from the Great Temple and reaching into Heaven. I thought flying horses had died out years before.

But I would quibble about the timing of any moving of embassies there at the present time: it seems an unnecessary complication in the fraught relations between Israel, the US, the Sunnis (Arabs, Turks etc.) and the Shi'ites (Iraq, Iran).

Cheers,

Joe

G'day, Joe,

“But I would quibble about the timing of any moving of embassies there at the present time: it seems an unnecessary complication in the fraught relations between Israel, the US, the Sunnis (Arabs, Turks etc.) and the Shi'ites (Iraq, Iran)”.

I get that. But, do you really think that not doing it now would make any difference to the Isreal/Arab/Iran/Just about everone else bloody great mess? I believe that, if we keep on putting off doing things because we might upset someone we will never do anything.

The only illegal party in this is Israel

John,

Not sure how you arrive at that assertion. Israel exists, and has a right to exist, and not to be pushed into the sea. Ergo, it has a right to a capitol. Ergo, Jerusalem.

All the Palestinians have to do is agree to ba two-state solution and take active steps to implement it. Simples.

Joe

Tel Aviv is the capital of Israel.
The US embassy relocation does not change this.

Israel purchased this development, via Trump's campaign being funded by Sheldon Adelson, who was present with his wife at the opening of the embassy.
http://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/Sheldon_Adelson
http://www.politico.com/story/2018/02/23/sheldon-adelson-pay-jerusalem-embassy-422732
http://amp.mcclatchydc.com/news/politics-government/white-house/article211098039.html

The Jews in Auchwitz or the Warsaw Ghetto were treated better than the Palestinians in Gaza.

And let me also educate you.
'Anti-Semitic' is just a bs made up word that could potentially mean 2 things.
1. Racism and hatred towards Jews or Israel for no reason.
2. Fair and reasonable criticism of the State of Israel.

Israel wants to stop any fair and reasonable criticism of the State of Israel (2) by making people fear that they might be construed as being racist towards Jews (1).

It's a bs made up word;
Like a Jedi mind trick for low level morons to scare you into self-censorship.

Israel shot 12000 Palestinians in a month, using munitions deemed illegal by the UN.
Those Palestinians wouldn't have done any more harm than Muslims have done to Europe, and apparently that's 'inclusive' these days.

The British position is the most balanced:

Yes, Western Jerusalem is the capital of Israel and in principle, foreign embassies should be there.

However, Israel makes it quite difficult to arrive to/from Western Jerusalem without passing through the occupied territories.

Even freeway #1, the main road from Tel-Aviv and the airport to Jerusalem, penetrates at one point into the West Bank, not to mention Freeway #443 which mostly goes through the West Bank. The new rail-line to Jerusalem also passes under the West Bank - http://www.haaretz.com/israel-news/.premium-european-envoys-boycott-tour-of-israeli-rail-route-1.5477084

It is possible to drive to Jerusalem without leaving Israel's borders, but the roads are winding, mostly with only one lane in each direction and inaccessible during snow.

Until the above is fixed, embassies should remain in other locations in Israel.

If relocations are in the air, how about relocating racist Israel 100 miles to the west of its current location?

Jewish homeland? Jews have dozens of homelands in which they live harmoniously with everyone else as equals not God-chosen overlords. Australia is one such homeland.

Dear Julian,

How about relocating you and your family first, some 1000 miles south?

You CAN be very cruel indeed, forgetting that the citizens of Israel are people and families just like yours (and only 75% of them are Jewish, 20% are local Arabs).

The generation that created Israel as a racist state are all in their graves now: the current citizens of Israel were born into this situation.

Jews in other countries (who want to remain Jews) cannot live a fully Jewish life, but are subjugated by the presiding cultures. They may have gotten used to it, but they are not truly equal and with foreign customs, language and calendar imposed on them, they cannot be as happy as they can in a state that supports their own traditions.

The fact is that Arab (mostly Muslim) Israelis eagerly prefer to live in Israel over any Arab country, including "Palestine". They could move the border-line if they wanted so their towns and villages are outside Israel, but they strongly oppose it. I believe that any Arab that is happy to live peacefully in a Jewish-oriented state like Israel should be able to live there. Fact is, however, that most of them who live outside Israel do not want to live in peace, only to destroy Israel.