Israel’s deputy minister and former ambassador to the United States said Tuesday that he and the Israeli government “welcome” the proposed plan of incoming president Donald Trump to move the American embassy from Tel Aviv to Jerusalem.
“We welcome the movement of the American embassy from Tel Aviv to Jerusalem,” said Michael Oren on Hugh Hewitt’s radio show Tuesday morning. “It’s 68 years late, and I don’t think that anybody can stop Donald Trump if he’s intending on doing it.”
Oren, who served as Israel’s ambassdor to the United States from 2009 to 2013, also spoke extensively to Hewitt about the recent United Nations Security Council resolution that called for the suspension of Israeli settlement activity and declared parts of Jerusalem, like the Western Wall, occupied territory. The United States abstained from the vote on the resolution, failing to use its veto power.
“It’s bad for the world, and it’s bad for the United States, too, Hugh, and I’ll explain why,” Oren said. “The American role was to stand back and let Israel take a tremendous hit, a tremendous hit that will expose us to sanctions and boycotts. It will kill the peace process. It will deliver a deadly, deadly blow to the people of the Middle East who look to the UN for salvation and get absolutely none at a time when hundreds of thousands of people are being massacred here. What does the UN do? It beats up on the Middle East’s only democracy. And America’s role, according to Prime Minister Netanyahu, was to cook it all up and to do some arm twisting and make it happen? Why?”
Listen to the interview here.
