Showing posts with label Israel. Show all posts
Showing posts with label Israel. Show all posts
Israel destroys tunnel from Gaza it says intended for attacks
Israeli army /JALAA MAREY / AFP
Israel said Sunday it used a combination of air strikes and other means to destroy a tunnel stretching from the Gaza Strip into the country and continuing into Egypt.
Israeli military spokesman Jonathan Conricus said the tunnel belonged to Palestinian Islamist movement Hamas and was intended for attacks as opposed to smuggling.
Such tunnels have been used to carry out attacks in the past.
He said he was not aware of any casualties from the destruction of the tunnel, which was still being built.
It ran underneath the main goods crossing between Israel and the blockaded Gaza Strip -- known as Kerem Shalom -- as well as gas and fuel pipelines, he said.
According to Conricus, Israeli air strikes late Saturday along with other unspecified means were used to destroy the tunnel.
The strikes occurred within the Gaza Strip, while further means were used in Israeli territory.
The tunnel began east of the city of Rafah in the Gaza Strip, crossed into Israel some 180 metres, then continued into Egypt for an unspecified length, with no exit point detected, he said.
Conricus said Israel had coordinated with Egypt on the operation.
The tunnel stretched a total length of around a kilometre and a half, he said.
Defence Minister Avigdor Lieberman said: "Destroying the network of offensive tunnels is an essential component in our policy of systematically damaging the strategic abilities of Hamas."
"The message to the Gaza leadership and residents is clear -- invest in life and not burial tunnels," Lieberman said in a statement.
Israel says it has been developing a new method to identify and destroy such tunnels, though it does not comment on details.
It is also building an underground wall in the area around the Gaza Strip to stop such tunnels.
The latest tunnel was the third destroyed since late October by Israel, but it comes at a particularly sensitive time.
Tensions between Palestinians and Israel have been high since US President Donald Trump's recognition of Jerusalem as Israel's capital on December 6.
Unrest has included rockets being fired from the Gaza Strip into Israel, with Israel's military responding with air strikes.
Conricus said Sunday Israel was defending its sovereignty with the destruction of the tunnel and was not seeking an escalation.
Hamas says will not attend Palestinian meeting over Jerusalem
Islamist movement Hamas said Saturday it would not participate in a meeting of Palestinian leaders to debate responses to the controversial US recognition of Jerusalem as Israel’s capital.
The decision not to take part in the meeting to begin late Sunday is a further setback to failing reconciliation efforts between leading Palestinian factions.
“We have taken the decision not to participate in the meeting of the (Palestinian) Central Council in Ramallah,” Hamas said in a statement, however stressing its “commitment to the unity of our people”.
“The conditions under which the committee will be held will not enable it to carry out a comprehensive and responsible political review, and will prevent decisions that reach the level of our aspirations.”
The two-day meeting will bring together the heads of the Palestine Liberation Organization, the internationally recognised representative of the Palestinian people.
Hamas and Islamic Jihad, another Palestinian Islamist movement, were invited to attend despite not being part of the PLO. Islamic Jihad has also announced it would not take part.
Hamas, which runs the Gaza Strip, had been pushing for the meeting to be held outside the Palestinian territories but Palestinian president Mahmud Abbas decided instead to host it in Ramallah, the base of his government in the West Bank.
The Hamas statement said this left them subject to the “pressures” of Israel, which occupies the West Bank and regularly arrests Hamas officials.
The meeting is due to discuss responses to US President Donald Trump’s December 6 recognition of Jerusalem as Israel’s capital.
The decision infuriated Palestinian leaders, who see at least the east of the city as the capital of a future Palestinian state.
Trump’s administration has also not publicly committed to the idea of an independent Palestinian state, and the PLO office in Washington was briefly threatened with closure.
Hamas and Abbas’ Fatah party signed a reconciliation agreement in October that was meant to see the Islamists hand over control of Gaza by the end of the year.
The talks have however broken down, with disputes over the fate of tens of thousands of Hamas civil servants and the future of Hamas’ vast armed wing.
Hamas seized Gaza in 2007, forcing out Abbas’ forces in a near civil war.
It has fought three wars with Israel since 2008 and is considered a terrorist organisation by the Jewish State, the United States and others.
Death threats haunt Miss Iraq after pageant selfie
Death threats haunt Miss Iraq after pageant selfie
Nearly a month ago, Sarah Idan was in a hand-beaded Swarovski crystal gown representing Iraq in the Miss Universe pageant. It was the first time in 45 years that Iraq had a contestant in the pageant.
"I was on cloud nine, I had been dreaming of that forever," said Idan, 27, an aspiring singer/songwriter.
But all of that suddenly changed. And it was all over a selfie.
A selfie seen around the world.
Idan and Miss Israel, Adar Gandelsman, took the picture during a pre-pageant photo shoot in Las Vegas.
"I said 'let's take a picture so our people can see we don't have a problem and we're actually ambassadors for peace.'"
In the caption, she wrote "Peace and Love from Miss Iraq and Miss Israel."
The reaction wasn't what she expected.
Six days before the pageant, she woke up to threats from the Miss Iraq organization, warning her to take down the photo or she'd be stripped of the title.
Others threatened her life.
She immediately called her family who was living in Iraq.
"My mom was freaking out. I told her 'Mom, just get out. Get out.' I told her I'm sorry and asked if she wants me to leave the competition. I was ready to drop out right then."
Idan says she was also being threatened online because she wore a bikini during one of the preliminary competitions.
But it was the selfie with Miss Israel that had the most serious repercussions. Iraq and Israel don't have any formal diplomatic relations, so the picture was causing an international outcry.
"When I posted the picture I didn't think for a second there would be blowback," Idan says. "I woke up to calls from my family and the Miss Iraq Organization going insane. The death threats I got online were so scary."
Idan refused to take the photo down.
"The director of the Miss Iraq Organization called me and said they're getting heat from the ministry. He said I have to take the picture down or they will strip me of my title."
Dealing with the fallout
A day after she posted the selfie, Idan agreed to put up a second post explaining that she doesn't support the Israeli government or its policies in the Middle East, and apologized for "anyone who thinks it's an attack for the Palestinian cause."
Idan didn't talk to the media about the controversy so her parents and other family members could quietly leave Iraq.
"People in Iraq recognized my family, they immediately knew who they were. And they were getting death threats."
Idan, who has dual US and Iraqi citizenship, was trying to get her national ID renewed during the pageant. She needed the ID to get her Iraqi passport renewed.
Before her family fled the country, she said her mother was told at the passport office in Baghdad that Idan would have to reapply for the national ID.
That would require Idan to travel back to Iraq, which she says she's afraid to do.
In the days before the Miss Universe pageant, Idan says she was feeling angry about the fallout from the selfie and being forced to wear a more modest swimsuit in the televised competition.
She says Miss Universe organizers wiped all her bikini photos off the web.
The day of the pageant, she tried to put the drama behind her and focus on representing her country.
"A lot of people have the wrong idea about Iraq, and while we do have extremists, we also have good people," she says. "Most of the good people go unnoticed."
She didn't place in the pageant, and returned home to Los Angeles.
Fear, but no regrets
Today, Idan says she's still getting death threats on social media over that selfie.
She says she is trying to focus on her career.
But the government of Iraq, she says, has offered no support.
"I'm here trying to paint a good picture about our country and our people, but instead I get a negative response. I have no support whatsoever from the Miss Iraq Organization and our government," she said.
In a statement to CNN, the Miss Iraq Organization says while the group was supportive of Idan, it didn't have the funding to provide for all her needs. "In terms of the picture with Miss Israel, we (sic) got a strong attack from the Iraqi street but (sic) we did not say we would strip her title. We told her to clarify what happened."
Idan said the organization's statement "is false, I have proof showing they threatened to take my title away if I didn't remove the picture ... They threatened to take my title many times, if (I) didn't respond to them quick enough, they would threaten to take my title." Referring to herself and her family, she said the Miss Iraq Organization was "trying to scare us."
A State Department official said, "we have seen media reports regarding Sarah Idan's family leaving Iraq. However, due to Privacy Act considerations, it is Department of State policy to not comment on or confirm any individual's citizenship."
The Iraqi government has not yet responded to a request for comment from CNN.
In the last week, the controversy reignited when Miss Israel told Israeli TV that Idan's family was forced to flee their country.
Idan said she wanted to keep a low profile until her family got out of the country. While she said they are safe now, she still worries about what could happen.
"I was crying to my mom and felt like it's my fault they left, and she said, 'no, it's not your fault, we live in a f****d up society.'"
Idan says she has no regrets about posting the photo.
"The government has been scary quiet. And when they're this quiet, you don't know what waits for you at home."
"I was on cloud nine, I had been dreaming of that forever," said Idan, 27, an aspiring singer/songwriter.
But all of that suddenly changed. And it was all over a selfie.
A selfie seen around the world.
Idan and Miss Israel, Adar Gandelsman, took the picture during a pre-pageant photo shoot in Las Vegas.
"I said 'let's take a picture so our people can see we don't have a problem and we're actually ambassadors for peace.'"
In the caption, she wrote "Peace and Love from Miss Iraq and Miss Israel."
The reaction wasn't what she expected.
Six days before the pageant, she woke up to threats from the Miss Iraq organization, warning her to take down the photo or she'd be stripped of the title.
Others threatened her life.
She immediately called her family who was living in Iraq.
"My mom was freaking out. I told her 'Mom, just get out. Get out.' I told her I'm sorry and asked if she wants me to leave the competition. I was ready to drop out right then."
Idan says she was also being threatened online because she wore a bikini during one of the preliminary competitions.
But it was the selfie with Miss Israel that had the most serious repercussions. Iraq and Israel don't have any formal diplomatic relations, so the picture was causing an international outcry.
"When I posted the picture I didn't think for a second there would be blowback," Idan says. "I woke up to calls from my family and the Miss Iraq Organization going insane. The death threats I got online were so scary."
Idan refused to take the photo down.
"The director of the Miss Iraq Organization called me and said they're getting heat from the ministry. He said I have to take the picture down or they will strip me of my title."
Dealing with the fallout
A day after she posted the selfie, Idan agreed to put up a second post explaining that she doesn't support the Israeli government or its policies in the Middle East, and apologized for "anyone who thinks it's an attack for the Palestinian cause."
Idan didn't talk to the media about the controversy so her parents and other family members could quietly leave Iraq.
"People in Iraq recognized my family, they immediately knew who they were. And they were getting death threats."
Idan, who has dual US and Iraqi citizenship, was trying to get her national ID renewed during the pageant. She needed the ID to get her Iraqi passport renewed.
Before her family fled the country, she said her mother was told at the passport office in Baghdad that Idan would have to reapply for the national ID.
That would require Idan to travel back to Iraq, which she says she's afraid to do.
In the days before the Miss Universe pageant, Idan says she was feeling angry about the fallout from the selfie and being forced to wear a more modest swimsuit in the televised competition.
She says Miss Universe organizers wiped all her bikini photos off the web.
The day of the pageant, she tried to put the drama behind her and focus on representing her country.
"A lot of people have the wrong idea about Iraq, and while we do have extremists, we also have good people," she says. "Most of the good people go unnoticed."
She didn't place in the pageant, and returned home to Los Angeles.
Fear, but no regrets
Today, Idan says she's still getting death threats on social media over that selfie.
She says she is trying to focus on her career.
But the government of Iraq, she says, has offered no support.
"I'm here trying to paint a good picture about our country and our people, but instead I get a negative response. I have no support whatsoever from the Miss Iraq Organization and our government," she said.
In a statement to CNN, the Miss Iraq Organization says while the group was supportive of Idan, it didn't have the funding to provide for all her needs. "In terms of the picture with Miss Israel, we (sic) got a strong attack from the Iraqi street but (sic) we did not say we would strip her title. We told her to clarify what happened."
Idan said the organization's statement "is false, I have proof showing they threatened to take my title away if I didn't remove the picture ... They threatened to take my title many times, if (I) didn't respond to them quick enough, they would threaten to take my title." Referring to herself and her family, she said the Miss Iraq Organization was "trying to scare us."
A State Department official said, "we have seen media reports regarding Sarah Idan's family leaving Iraq. However, due to Privacy Act considerations, it is Department of State policy to not comment on or confirm any individual's citizenship."
The Iraqi government has not yet responded to a request for comment from CNN.
In the last week, the controversy reignited when Miss Israel told Israeli TV that Idan's family was forced to flee their country.
Idan said she wanted to keep a low profile until her family got out of the country. While she said they are safe now, she still worries about what could happen.
"I was crying to my mom and felt like it's my fault they left, and she said, 'no, it's not your fault, we live in a f****d up society.'"
Idan says she has no regrets about posting the photo.
"The government has been scary quiet. And when they're this quiet, you don't know what waits for you at home."
ISIS Threatens U.S. Attacks Over Jerusalem Decision
Islamic State has threatened attacks on U.S. soil in retaliation for the Trump administration’s decision to recognise Jerusalem as the capital of Israel.
One of the group’s social media accounts reported on Thursday without much details on one of its accounts on the Telegram instant messaging service titled: “Wait for us” and “ISIS in Manhattan”.
The group said that it would carry out operations and showed images of New York’s Times Square and what appeared to be an explosive bomb belt and detonator.
“We will do more ops in your land, until the final hour and we will burn you with the flames of war which you started in Iraq, Yemen, Libya and Syria and Afghan. Just you wait.
“The recognition of your dog ‘Trump’ (sic) Jerusalem as the capital of Israel will make us recognise explosives as the capital of your country,” it said.
Washington triggered widespread anger and protests across the Arab world with its decision on Jerusalem.
The disputed city is revered by Jews, Christians and Muslims alike, and is home to Islam’s third holiest site.
It has been at the heart of the Israeli-Palestinian conflict for decades.
Islamic State was driven out of its Iraqi and Syrian capitals this year and squeezed into a shrinking pocket of desert straddling the border between the two countries.
The forces fighting Islamic State in Iraq and Syria now expect a new phase of guerrilla warfare there.
Militants including people claiming allegiance to Islamic State have carried out scores of deadly attacks in Europe, the Middle East, Africa, Asia and the U.S. over the past two years.
Israel intercepts two missiles fired from Gaza
Israeli forces on Wednesday intercepted two rockets fired from the Gaza Strip, while a third came down inside Israeli territory, the military said.
“The IAF (Israeli Air Force) successfully intercepted two rockets launched from the Gaza Strip towards Israel,” the Israeli military said on Twitter.
“A short while ago, an additional rocket was launched from the Gaza Strip at Israeli territory and fell in an open area in the Eshkol Regional Council, southern Israel,” it added.
Israeli public radio reported the rocket exploded in a field and that there were no casualties.
Militants in the Palestinian enclave have fired both rockets and mortar rounds into Israel over the past week amid anger over US President Donald Trump’s recognition of Jerusalem as the capital of Israel.
The Israeli Air Force hit the Hamas-ruled Gaza Strip earlier Wednesday, lightly wounding three people, after Palestinians fired at southern Israel, the military and Gaza security officials said.
Three Palestinians were lightly wounded in the strikes, the health ministry in Gaza said. No casualties were reported on the Israeli side.
Trump’s announcement last Wednesday has sparked protests across the Palestinian territories, with four people killed and hundreds wounded in clashes or retaliatory Israeli air strikes so far.
Germany condemns burning of Israeli flags at pro-Palestinian demoonstrations
Germany condemns burning of Israeli flags at pro-Palestinian demoonstrations
Germany’s Interior Minister Thomas de Maiziere has condemned the burning of Israeli flags at pro-Palestinian demonstrations, in Berlin, following the US decision to recognize Jerusalem as the capital of Israel last week.
Germany was “connected in a quite particular way to the state of Israel and to all people of the Jewish faith,” he said in comments to the newspaper Bild to be published on Monday.
“We do not accept it when Jews or the state of Israel is insulted in this shameful way,” de Maiziere continued.
Two Israeli flags were burnt at a Friday demonstration outside the US embassy, by the Brandenburg Gate in central Berlin, following President Donald Trump’s decision on the disputed city of Jerusalem.
Ten people were arrested and police launched an investigation into the alleged insulting of the emblem of a foreign state.
Another flag was burnt at a protest march attended by about 2,500 people between Berlin’s Neukoelln and Kreuzberg districts on Sunday.
The German government was “aware of the particular situation in the Middle East,” de Maiziere said.
“In light of and particularly because of this we condemn it utterly when violence takes place at demonstrations and the Israeli flag is burnt.
“Germany has freedom of opinion and assembly. But these freedoms must be practised peacefully.”
Berlin’s Mayor Michael Mueller had already condemned the flag-burning, saying those people who took part in it could not rely on the protection of the constitutional right to demonstrate.
Israel strike kills 2 Palestinians
Israel strike kills 2 Palestinians
An Israeli air strike on a Gaza base of Hamas's military wing killed two people on Saturday, health officials of the territory's Palestinian Islamist rulers said.
The strike on a base in Nusseirat in the central Gaza Strip, one of several in the early hours, came amid protests across the Palestinian territories against US President Donald Trump's deeply controversial recognition of Jerusalem as Israel's capital.
The Hamas health ministry in Gaza named the men as Abdullah al-Atal, 28 and Mohammed al-Safdi, 30.
It said that their bodies were only recovered several hours after the pre-dawn strike on a base of Hamas's military wing in Nusseirat in the central Gaza Strip.
The militants did not say if the dead men were its members.
The strike followed three rocket attacks Friday night from Gaza into southern Israel.
"Today... in response to the rockets fired at southern Israeli communities throughout yesterday, Israel air force aircraft targeted four facilities belonging to the Hamas terror organisation in the Gaza Strip," an English-language army statement said on Saturday.
It said the targets were "two weapons manufacturing sites, a weapons warehouse and a military compound."
"In each target, several components were hit," it added.
Israeli strikes on Hamas facilities on Friday night wounded 14 people, among them women and children, the Hamas medical services said.
They followed three rocket attacks during Friday's Palestinian "day of rage" over Trump's decision.
In one of them, a rocket hit the southern Israeli city of Sderot although Israeli public radio said it did not explode and did not cause any casualties.
The Israeli military said that its Iron Dome air defence system intercepted an earlier rocket fired from the Palestinian enclave.
It said it later detected a second missile launch, but had not found evidence that it had reached Israeli territory.
The military retaliated Friday with air strikes on what it said were two targets.
"In response to the projectiles fired at Israel from the Gaza Strip earlier today, Israel air force aircraft targeted a Hamas training compound and an ammunition warehouse in the Gaza Strip," an English-language statement said.
Gaza security officials said that both targets were in the vicinity of Beit Lahiya, in the northern part of the strip, close to the border with Israel.
A previously unknown Salafist group calling itself the Salahedin Brigades claimed responsibility for one of the attacks.
But the Israeli army said it held Hamas responsible for all "hostile activity" originating from the territory under its control.
Thousands of Muslims in Asia protest against Trump’s Jerusalem plan
Thousands of protesters in Muslim-majority Indonesia and Malaysia joined rallies on Friday to condemn Washington’s decision to recognise Jerusalem as Israel’s capital, as authorities tightened security outside U.S. embassies.
Leaders in both Asian countries have joined a global chorus of voices condemning U.S. President Donald Trump’s move.
Several thousand protesters, some shouting anti-U.S. slogans and burning an effigy of Trump, gathered in front of the American embassy in the Malaysian capital Kuala Lumpur.
In Indonesia, hundreds of protesters mostly clad in white were arriving outside the U.S. embassy in Jakarta, capital of the world’s biggest Muslim-majority country.
Some wore checkered scarves and waved Palestinian flags, while others shouted “Allahu Akbar” (God is greatest).
“We have prepared personnel and patrols to secure the U.S. embassy. We are expecting between 500 and 1,000 demonstrators,” said Jakarta police spokesman Argo Yuwono.
The U.S. embassy in Jakarta advised its citizens to avoid areas where there were demonstrations and said its consulate in Indonesia’s second-biggest city Surabaya had suspended public services on Friday.
Indonesia has been a long-running supporter of the two-state solution in the Israeli-Palestinian conflict and there have been public demonstrations in support of Palestine in recent years.
Indonesian President Joko Widodo on Thursday urged the United States to reconsider its decision and instructed his foreign minister to summon the U.S. ambassador for an explanation.
In Malaysia, leaders from the ruling party United Malay National Organisation and the popular right wing Pan-Malaysian Islamic Party, led the rally and representatives of the Palestinian Islamist group Hamas are expected to join.
Protests are also expected in South Asia.
Pakistan’s major Islamist party Jamaat-e-Islami has announced rallies in all major cities after Friday prayers.
President Trump said on Wednesday that the United States would move its embassy to Jerusalem in the coming years.
Protests have already broken out in the West Bank and the Gaza strip as the Islamist group Hamas urged Palestinians to launch a fresh uprising against Israel.
The status of Jerusalem is one of the thorniest barriers to a lasting Israeli-Palestinian peace.
Its eastern sector was captured by Israel in a 1967 war and annexed in a move not recognised internationally. Palestinians claim East Jerusalem for the capital of an independent state they seek.
Trump's Jerusalem decision promises upheaval
Trump's Jerusalem decision promises upheaval
Analysis by Stephen Collinson, CNN
Updated 1 hour ago Dec 6, 2017
Washington (CNN) - President Donald Trump's fragile political standing among American voters may be about to cause dangerous reverberations in the Middle East.
His announcement Wednesday that he will recognize Jerusalem as the capital of Israel and begin to relocate the US embassy there from Tel Aviv is sparking debate over what the President personally, and the United States, will gain given that the decision marks a sharp foreign policy turn and comes with such high risks.
Critics doubt that the President is acting on the basis of long-held principles or a coherent national security strategy and charge he is instead determined to further personal goals at a time when he needs to show his political base that he is rapidly ticking off his campaign promises.
The question is especially acute because there are so many potential downsides. There are fears Trump's action will trigger violence against Americans and US interests and a wider Middle East conflagration, especially in countries where leaders support the US government. The US Consulate in Jerusalem warned Americans to be wary of demonstrations after Palestinians called for "three days of rage" across the West Bank.
Trump's decision will defy explicit appeals from allied leaders in the Middle East and Europe and could therefore damage American foreign policy goals and relationships. The move is likely to squander any remaining idea that the United States can be an honest broker in the stalled final status talks between Israel and the Palestinians. It is also likely to squelch son-in-law Jared Kushner's attempt to revive the Israeli-Palestinian dialogue.
Given unequivocal criticism by Saudi Arabia on Tuesday, it could also slow another Kushner project -- rapidly warming US ties with the kingdom -- and make it harder for the Saudis to line up publicly alongside Israel in the nascent US policy effort to form a new anti-Iran coalition.
As Aaron David Miller, a former Middle East peace negotiator for Republican and Democratic presidents, warned on CNN: "Jerusalem is a tinderbox, waiting for a match."
Why do it?
So why would Trump risk providing that spark with a move that seems to come with such potentially unpredictable and dire consequences, especially as he will be blamed if he sends Middle Eastern tensions soaring?
Given Trump's approval rating -- which a poll put at 35% on Tuesday -- and intense focus on honoring campaign promises during a fraught year, many observers sense a political motivation.
CNN's Kevin Liptak reported on Tuesday that the President was concerned about losing his base and has taken steps to galvanize conservative support -- for instance, in his endorsement of Senate candidate Roy Moore of Alabama, who has been accused of initiating sexual contact with a 14-year-old, sexually assaulting a 16-year-old and pursuing relationships with teenage girls while he was in his 30s. He has denied those claims. The Jerusalem decision also comes with Trump under heavy political pressure as the Russia probe reaches directly into his inner circle.
The vow to move the US embassy to Jerusalem was a staple of Trump's campaign speeches, and it appealed to evangelical voters, rich Republican donors and GOP foreign policy hawks.
"When I become President, the days of treating Israel like a second class citizen will end, on Day 1," Trump told the American Israel Public Affairs Committee conference last year.
"We will move the American embassy to the eternal capital of the Jewish people, Jerusalem."
While the risk of moving the embassy appalls his critics, it would not be out of character if the sense of uncertainty appeals to Trump. The President's self image and his appeal to many supporters rests on the idea that he has the courage to take steps other Presidents wouldn't and that he will be unpredictable, disdain political correctness and shatter taboos that defied his predecessors.
"The President has delivered on another major campaign promise," Norm Coleman, the national chairman of the Republican Jewish Coalition, said in a statement on Tuesday. "President Trump is doing what he does so well: recognizing the reality on the ground. No more false news -- Jerusalem is Israel's capital."
Siding with one of his closest friends among foreign leaders, Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu, who backed him in the US election, may also appeal to Trump. His decision will also allow him to defy establishment foreign policy figures and project a tough guy image in the Middle East, one of the world's roughest regions.
US law recognizes Jerusalem
Of course, Trump might simply believe that he is doing the right thing. After all, US law recognizes Jerusalem as Israel's capital already and there is bipartisan support for the embassy move -- though mostly as part of a final settlement between Israel and the Palestinians, not as a unilateral act.
Senior administration officials said Tuesday that the President was simply making a "recognition of reality" with his action on Wednesday and rejected the idea that he was putting peace moves at risk.
"It seems clear now that the physical location of the American embassy is not material to a peace deal. It's not an impediment to peace and it's not a facilitator to peace," one senior administration official said.
American presidents have for more than two decades used a waiver every six months to forestall the embassy move, partly out of fears that it could set off widespread violence and instability throughout the region. Trump will also sign a waiver on Wednesday -- but on the rationale that it will take years to build and appoint a new US embassy.
Arguments that Trump's move does not have a political dimension, however, are undercut by the evidence of his personality and record so far in office.
Trump has rushed to implement campaign pledges -- for instance, with his Muslim travel ban and his moves against undocumented migrants, which electrified his base and powered his populist campaign crusade in 2016 -- often without much concern for the human consequences for those involved.
And several crucial foreign policy decisions seem as much motivated by personal animosity or preference as detailed foreign policy arguments.
For instance, his refusal to certify the Iran nuclear deal this year flew in the face of facts that said Tehran was complying, but followed multiple reports detailing his personal antipathy to the agreement.
Trump also defied a storm of appeals from foreign leaders not to isolate the United States from the Paris climate accord -- he did so anyway, after frequently blasting global warming as a hoax on the campaign trail.
"As in the case of the Iran nuclear agreement, ideology and political concerns are triumphing over the commonsense recommendations of US and Israeli security experts and the opinion of the majority of Jewish Americans," the liberal, pro-Israel advocacy group J Street said in a statement Tuesday.
Trump's Jerusalem Embassy step expected soon
Trump's Jerusalem Embassy step expected soon
By Michelle Kosinski, Elise Labott and Jeremy Diamond, CNN
Dec 2, 2017
Washington (CNN) - President Donald Trump is expected to announce as early as Tuesday that the US recognizes Jerusalem as Israel's capital, US officials with direct knowledge and foreign diplomats have told CNN.
Trump is expected to make the announcement as he signs a waiver to keep the US embassy in Tel Aviv for another six months but says his administration will move the diplomatic mission to Jerusalem at some point -- a goal long sought by Israel.
Sources believe that Trump will attempt to soften the announcement for Palestinians, possibly, as CNN reported Thursday, by specifying only West Jerusalem as the capital of Israel, as opposed to the eastern part of the city, which Palestinians want to claim as their own seat of government.
Sources caution nothing is certain until Trump makes the final decision.
"The President has always said it is a matter of when, not if. The President is still considering options and we have nothing to announce," said a White House spokesperson. Another White House source tells CNN no final decision has been made.
The announcement would put the US in singular company among its allies. While Israel claims Jerusalem as its seat of government, no foreign embassies are located there, as the international community sees it as an issue to be settled as part of a broader peace agreement.
Trump made a campaign pledge to move the embassy, a promise previous presidents have made and then backed away from when faced with the complexities of the situation and the strife it could cause.
The Jerusalem Embassy Act of 1995 requires the embassy to be moved to Jerusalem or face the financial penalty of losing half the State Department's appropriated funding for the acquisition and maintenance of buildings abroad.
Every six months, however, presidents can sign a waiver to avoid these penalties on national security grounds.
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