Trump announced this week that the US will treat Jerusalem as the Israeli capital in de facto recognition of what was already practice. This received a good deal of criticism from the liberal press, intellectuals, and Israeli-hating UN for destabilizing the Middle East and undermining the peace process. All I could think about was the failed Brexit talks and how by comparison, Trump showed decisive leadership.
Brexit made news a short time ago as an average English person’s reaction against European elites that often forced laws on Britain. It was a decisive moment for their prime minister, Teresa May. But since that time, there has been little progress on an exit strategy. The major issues include the status of Europeans living in Britain, English living abroad, what is called the British “divorce bill,” or how much money England owes the European Union, and the border for Northern Ireland, which is Britain’s only land border with Europe.
I read the paper every day, and sure enough, every day I read about how negotiations stalled. The British politicians, weakened after a disastrous early election called by May, can’t agree with their European counterparts. This week the government revealed that they haven’t done an impact assessment of Britain leaving the European Union. If they don’t have trade deals and immigration plans in place, it will likely resemble the chaos that accompanied Trump’s first travel ban combined with the financial disquiet of the 2008 crisis. But Britain doesn’t even know, because the government in charge hasn’t even studied the potential impact to go along with their useless negotiations. They finally reached the second stage of negotiations this week and are far behind schedule.
While Trump has many flaws and the phone with which he tweets should be thrown in the Dead Sea, he is not a politician and often cuts through the rhetoric that comes from politicians.
In contrast, Donald Trump made many campaign promises regarding the status of Jerusalem. But unlike every other president since Jimmy Carter, Trump finally followed through with his promise. Trump saw something over which he had power and made a decision, regardless of the anger and fury from elites.
While Trump has many flaws and the phone with which he tweets should be thrown in the Dead Sea, he is not a politician and often cuts through the rhetoric that comes from politicians. In this case, it means he didn’t buy the supposed negative consequences from this decision. I largely agree—this will lead to some complaints and protests from Arabs and Palestinians, which is hardly different from their normal protesting. The peace process is already moribund, and this simply bakes in the status of at least the west half of Jerusalem into that process.
I prefer unilateral action over months, and in the case of Jerusalem, decades of useless talk. Donald Trump took decisive action and fulfilled an important campaign promise that matters to many Americans and many more Israelis. British leaders, in contrast, haven’t even made the effort to study the impacts of withdrawal and continue to palaver with their European counterparts. There are dangers to every decision, but there is a danger in not acting as well, and Trump deserves credit for his decisive move.
