Move the Embassy!

The transition period for the new Trump administration is comical. The media are howling if he doesn’t name all his cabinet picks in 30 minutes. Of course, if he did that, they’d scream that he wasn’t deliberate enough.

One interesting discussion at the moment is a potential role for Mike Huckabee. The former Arkansas governor is rumored to be in line for the ambassadorship to Israel.

That’d be a great pick.

In an interview with Eric Bolling at FOX, Huckabee said that, in fact, he had not discussed that position with Trump. The media had been reporting late this week that the deal was sealed. Somebody is not telling the truth!

But in the event Huckabee is installed as ambassador, does that make it more likely the U.S. embassy will be moved from Tel Aviv to Jerusalem?

We don’t know.

I met Huckabee when he was a 37-year-old Southern Baptist preacher running for Lt. Governor of Arkansas. Naturally, he was ambitious, and I’ve always been ambivalent about preachers running for political office. However, Huckabee was a great governor later, for a decade, and his conservative credentials are legit. Further, his love for Israel and his friendship with Bibi Netanyahu is unquestioned.

George H.W. Bush, Bill Clinton, George W. Bush, and Barack Obama would not move on the senate vote of 1995 to move the embassy, and everyone knew it was because they didn’t want to offend the sensibilities of the Palestinians and thus “influence” the “negotiations” between Israel and the Arabs.

The real issue here is that these men indirectly influenced the violence unleashed by the death-loving Palestinians. All the presidents knew what Yasser Arafat was, but they refused to hold the Palestinians accountable. And let’s be clear: moving the embassy does not violate “international law,” as the leftist media and politicians howl. It is a matter of political will.

IF the Americans do move the embassy, it will be a watershed moment, and signal that the infamous Oslo Accords and the flawed model they rode in on are dead.

We shall see. I do believe Donald Trump is a genuine friend of Israel and that alone will be a difference from the Marxist-leaning Obama, who loathes the Jewish state.

Currently, there are no foreign embassies in Jerusalem, as the nations cower before the hurt feelings of the Palestinians. The U.S. Embassy in Tel Aviv is just south of the beautiful marina, steps from the beach.

You might be interested to know that the plot of ground earmarked for the U.S. embassy in Jerusalem is located in the neighborhood of Talpiot…where Benjamin Netanyahu grew up. The family home of Benzion Netanyahu is located in Talpiot and there the three boys fierce Zionism was formed. How delicious it would be if the new embassy finds its home there, finally.

We will know soon about Huckabee’s appointment, and it’s no coincidence I think that Christmas approaches.

What a gift that would be!

Jim1fletcher@yahoo.com

The Israel Re-Set

Much was made of the infamous “Russian Re-Set” button Hillary Clinton presented to her Russian counterparts. They all laughed and mugged for the cameras, but it set the stage for the Russians to flex their muscles in their region and in the Middle East. In short, America looked weak.

But what a difference an election makes.

We now have an Israel Re-Set, in that President-elect Donald Trump, an old friend of Israel’s Benjamin Netanyahu, has warmly received the Israeli leader, and no doubt they will meet soon after the inauguration.

We do know the tone and atmosphere will be completely different. Obama’s mendacity when it came to Israel and Jews was the worst since the leftist Jimmy Carter occupied the White House. As I’ve said many times, Obama was and is a Marxist-leaning radical who always felt warmly toward Palestinian terrorists. It’s who he is. Trump, while not exactly a Christian Zionist, seems genuinely fond of Israel.

For his part, Netanyahu had this to say today:

“’I’m asking all the ministers and the parliamentarians to wait until the start of the new [United States] government. Let’s [Israel and the US] form a new policy together through quiet and acceptable [diplomatic] channels and not through interviews with the media,’ Netanyahu said at the start of the weekly government meeting in Jerusalem.”

Also, there is talk from the Right in Israel of annexing all or part of the West Bank. The truth is, no one knows what will happen, and no one knows how far Trump will go in re-setting relations with Israel. Would Trump support annexation?

Hard to know, but we will soon see if he is indeed a true agent of change, or if he will go the way of others who vowed to fix Washington.

A key moment will come very soon, as Trump has said he will move the U.S. embassy from Tel Aviv to Jerusalem. All U.S. presidential candidates who promised to do it—especially George W. Bush—lied when they promised this. So as not to offend the Palestinians.

Additionally, Trump has spoken of his view that a final peace deal between Israel and the Palestinians would be the ultimate. For the poster boy of The Art of the Deal, this would have great allure.

Fortunately, more and more voices are pointing out that a quarter-century of concessions to the radicalized and murderous Palestinian society has been folly. If anything, the Arabs are far, far from being able to actually live in peace with Jews.

What I think us prophecy students must guard against is the tendency to tightly predict what is going to happen next. If only two weeks ago we were “sweating” the prospect of the vicious Obama going before the UN to sanction a Palestinian state…now all that’s changed.

By contrast, we should guard against making bold and wonderful predictions about what a Trump administration will do for Israel. Maybe he will be great, maybe so-so, maybe not at all.

Still, the Trump win is honestly a wonderful change from the eight corrosive years of the leftist radical Obama and his team of America-haters.

Let’s enjoy what we have, and continue to take the wisest path: pray for the peace of Jerusalem.

Jim1fletcher@yahoo.com