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Lakewood Times

Lakewood Times

Lakewood Times

    U.S. Opens Embassy in Jerusalem as Dozens are Killed in Gaza

    U.S.+Opens+Embassy+in+Jerusalem+as+Dozens+are+Killed+in+Gaza

    Last Monday, May 14, the U.S. relocated it’s Embassy in Israel from Tel Aviv to Jerusalem, marking an important event in foreign policy, but at the same time, protests were held at the Israeli-Gaza border, killing 58 Palestinians and injuring 2,700 more.

    Monday marked the 70th anniversary of the founding of the state of Israel, with leaders of both Israel and the United States praising the embassy move as a sign of the enduring relationship between the two countries and of US trustworthiness and faith in finding peace between Israelis and Palestinians.

    Amid the celebration of about 800 guest, the ceremony began with The U.S. ambassador to Israel, David Friedman, and continued with Jared Kushner, the controversial pastor Robert Jeffress blessing the occasion, and while President Trump wasn’t at the event, he delivered a prerecorded video address, saying, “Today, Jerusalem is the seat of Israel’s government. It is the home of the Israeli legislature and the Israeli supreme court and Israel’s Prime Minister and President. Israel is a sovereign nation with the right, like every other sovereign nation, to determine its own capital, yet for many years we failed to acknowledge the obvious, the plain reality that Israel’s capital is Jerusalem,” adding, “As I said in December, our greatest hope is for peace.”

    Americans watching along at home faced the juxtaposition of cutting from the Presidents last statement to televised images of Palestinians running from gunfire at the border and the Pentagon making the decision to boost the Marine Corps presence at US embassies across the Middle East and Africa.

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