Mayor Uri Lupolianski on Sunday blasted foreign governments for planning to boycott events marking the 40th anniversary of the reunification of Jerusalem. "Anyone who doesn't recognize Jerusalem as the capital of the state of Israel does not recognize the state of Israel," Lupolianski said in a statement. He added that Israel needed to send out an unequivocal message to the world, and not capitulate on this issue.
"Israel is the only country in the world that allows other countries to boycott its capital and not [locate] their embassies in the city," he added. The unusually harsh remarks from the haredi mayor comes after US and EU ambassadors declined to attend a VIP event at the Knesset marking the 40th anniversary of the reunification of Jerusalem.
He’s got a point. It’s been 40 years since the unification of Jerusalem and it seems beyond ridiculous not to officially recognize the capital of Israel which has maintained a Jewish majority since its founding except for three brief periods in the last two millenniums.
Sources close to US Ambassador Richard Jones said Sunday that Jones would not be participating in Monday's Jerusalem Day ceremony at the Knesset. It was not yet clear whether his decision to absent himself, which followed a similar decision by the EU, was politically motivated.
In an address in Jerusalem last year, former US ambassador to Israel Martin Indyk said that no US president would move the US Embassy to Jerusalem except as part of a final peace agreement with the Palestinians, and, repeat preelection pledges notwithstanding, it was unrealistic to expect such a move.
Okay, so I guess this means Palestinian/Arab sensibilities trump all – glad we got that straight, but where does it end? And for the record, Canada is no better.
1 comment:
If Islam can have all of its holy places, why is Israel denied this most holy one?
The capital of Israel -- Jerusalem.
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