Ivanka Trump Celebrates Fulfilled Promise on Second Anniversary of Jerusalem Embassy Opening
First daughter Ivanka Trump celebrated the second anniversary of President Donald Trump making good on a campaign promise to move the U.S. embassy in Israel from Tel Aviv to Jerusalem.
“Two years ago today @realDonaldTrump kept his promise and opened the U.S. Embassy in Jerusalem,” she tweeted on Thursday.
“I was honored to be in Israel to celebrate this historic occasion,” Trump added.
The White House aide, in fact, participated with Treasury Secretary Steve Mnuchin in the unveiling of the seal of the U.S. embassy adorning the new location.
Two years ago today @realDonaldTrump kept his promise and opened the U.S. Embassy in Jerusalem.
I was honored to be in Israel to celebrate this historic occasion.
???? pic.twitter.com/Tb1P3QtQM6— Ivanka Trump (@IvankaTrump) May 14, 2020
David Rubin, the author of “Trump and the Jews” and the former mayor of Shiloh in the West Bank, said in an email to The Western Journal that contrary to what some warned at the time, violence did not break out following the move of the embassy.
“Two years after the US Embassy was moved to Jerusalem, we can see that the Palestinian threats of massive violence did not materialize,” Rubin said.
“We can learn lessons from that, as Israel is currently considering when to declare its sovereignty over the 30% of Judea and Samaria (the so-called West Bank) that is authorized in the Trump peace plan. Sometimes, we need to ignore threats and just do what’s right,” he added.
Rubin has called Trump “the most pro-Israel president ever.”
Trump’s husband, Jared Kushner, who played an important role in orchestrating the move, spoke at the opening ceremony, noting that the president had officially made good on his campaign promise.
“While presidents before him have backed down from their pledge to move the American embassy, once in office, this president delivered. Because when President Trump makes a promise, he keeps it,” Kushner said.
Less than two weeks after Trump won the 2016 presidential election, The New York Times questioned whether he would follow through with moving the embassy, pointing out both presidents Bill Clinton and George W. Bush had made campaign promises to do the same.
“In 1995, Congress passed a law declaring Jerusalem to be Israel’s capital and requiring the embassy be moved there by 1999 — or else the State Department building budget would be cut in half,” The Times reported. “But the law included a provision allowing presidents to waive its requirement for six months if they determined it was in the national interest.
“So every six months, Mr. Clinton, Mr. Bush and eventually President Obama signed such waivers, fearing a violent response in the Arab world if the embassy moved.”
During the first year of his presidency, in December 2017, Trump recognized Jerusalem as the capital of Israel and declared the embassy would be moved there in short order.
Five months later his promise became a reality.
“Exactly 70 years ago, the United States under President Harry Truman became the first nation to recognize the state of Israel,” Trump said in video remarks shown at the May 14, 2018, ceremony.
“Today, Jerusalem is the seat of Israel’s government,” he added. “It is the home of the Israeli legislature and the Israeli Supreme Court and Israel’s prime minister and president.”
“Israel is a sovereign nation with the right like every other sovereign nation to determine its own capital. Yet for many years we failed to acknowledge the obvious, the plain reality that Israel’s capital is Jerusalem,” Trump said.
U.S. Ambassador to Israel David Friedman marked the occasion of the second anniversary of the Jerusalem embassy opening, saying, “Two years ago today, on May 14, 2018, at 4 p.m., 70 years to the date and the hour that David Ben-Gurion declared Israel’s independence, the United States moved its embassy to Israel from Tel Aviv to Jerusalem, Israel’s holy capital city.
“That day will always remain with me as one of the greatest days of my life, a day on which President Trump kept a promise to the Jewish people and to many tens of millions of Americans who support the state of Israel,” the ambassador continued.
“It was a day on which America yet again led the world in standing for freedom, for peace and the undeniable truth of Jerusalem’s ancient connection and modern centrality to the people of Israel as their eternal capital.”
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