BRUSSELS —-European Jewish Congress President Moshe Kantor applauded the decision by US President Donald Trump to recognize Jerusalem as the capital of the State of Israel. He called on European states to follow suit.
President Trump on Wednesday formally recognized Jerusalem as the capital of Israel, reversing nearly seven decades of American foreign policy and set in motion a plan to move the US Embassy from Tel Aviv to Jerusalem.
‘’Today we finally acknowledge the obvious: that Jerusalem is Israel’s capital,” Mr. Trump said from the Diplomatic Reception Room of the White House. “This is nothing more or less than a recognition of reality. It is also the right thing to do. It’s something that has to be done.”
The president cast his decision as a break with decades of failed policy on Jerusalem, which the United States, along with virtually every other nation in the world, has declined to recognize as the capital since Israel’s founding in 1948. That policy, Trump said, brought us “no closer to a lasting peace agreement between Israel and the Palestinians.”
“It would be folly to assume that repeating the exact same formula would now produce a different or better result,” Mr. Trump declared.
Recognizing Jerusalem, he added, was “a long overdue step to advance the peace process.”
“We welcome this recognition of Jerusalem as the capital of the State of Israel, and we hope that European states will follow suit and their leaders make similar statements,” Kantor said.
“Jerusalem has been the capital city of the people of Israel for millennia and the central focus of Jewish identity and peoplehood, so it is right and just that its status be recognized.”
“This new US policy can serve to embolden peace as standing in opposition to those who reject a Jewish presence in Jerusalem telling them that their rejectionism will be met with recognition.” Kantor added.