Ben Shapiro: Trump recognizing Jerusalem as Israeli capital would be ‘political bravery’
Conservative commentator Ben Shapiro said Wednesday that President Trump’s plan to recognize Jerusalem as Israel’s capital would be “political bravery.”
The commentary from Shapiro, made in an interview on Fox News’s “Fox & Friends,” comes as the president is set to announce in a speech on Wednesday that U.S. recognizes Jerusalem as the capital of Israel.
Critics fear the decision will prompt protests throughout the Middle East and undermine peace talks between the Israelis and Palestinians.
{mosads}Shapiro, a prominent conservative columnist, podcast host and frequent GOP critic of Trump, said recognizing Jerusalem as Israel’s capital is a “recognition of a reality in the region not based on false stupidities that have been promulgated” during previous administrations.
“It’s obviously an act of not only political bravery but moral courage to move the embassy. But just to recognize Jerusalem as Israel’s capital — the absurdity of the U.S. policy suggesting that Jerusalem is not Israel’s capital has resulted in idiocies like the fact that my niece, who was born in Jerusalem, it says on her passport Jerusalem and then it doesn’t say which country she’s from,” Shapiro told “Fox & Friends.”
“For President Trump to recognize that this isn’t going anywhere, that the freedom of Israel is just inherently connected with the freedom of Jerusalem … it’s a recognition of a reality that’s necessary in order for real peace to be achieved in the region, not based on false stupidities that have been promulgated for the last couple decades,” the “Daily Wire” founder and editor added.
According to senior administrations on Tuesday, however, Trump will authorize a waiver delaying the relocation of the U.S. Embassy from Tel Aviv to Jerusalem.
“When I become president, the days of treating Israel like a second-class citizen will end on Day 1,” Trump said in a speech at the American Israel Public Affairs Committee conference in March 2016.
“We will move the American Embassy to the eternal capital of the Jewish people, Jerusalem.”
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