HOLLYWOOD, Fla. (AP) — President Donald Trump said Saturday that Israel has never had a better friend in the White House than him because, unlike his predecessors, “I kept my promises.”
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Trump energized an audience that numbered in the hundreds at the American Israeli Council National Summit in Florida by recounting his record on issues of importance to Jews, including an extensive riff on his promise to recognize Jerusalem as the Israeli capital and relocate the U.S. Embassy there from Tel Aviv.
Both Israel and Palestine claim parts of Jerusalem for their future capital.
Trump said his predecessors had promised to move the embassy but only paid lip service to the issue.
“They never had any intention of doing it, in my opinion,” Trump said. “But unlike other presidents, I kept my promises.”
Trump also highlighted his decision earlier this year to reverse more than a half-century of U.S. policy in the Middle East by recognizing Israel’s sovereignty over the Golan Heights, the strategic highlands on the border with Syria.
The American Israeli Council is financially backed by one of Trump’s top supporters, the husband-and-wife duo of Miriam and Sheldon Adelson, a Las Vegas casino magnate.
Both Adelsons appeared on stage to introduce Trump, with Miriam Adelson asserting that Trump “has already gone down in the annals of Jewish history, and that is before he’s even completed his first term in office.”
The Adelsons donated $30 million to Trump’s campaign in the final months of the 2016 race. They followed up by donating $100 million to the Republican Party for last November’s congressional elections.
Trump criticized Israel’s sworn enemy, Iran, saying he withdrew the U.S. from the Iran nuclear deal with other world powers because Tehran must never be allowed to obtain a nuclear weapon
But Trump voiced support for Iranian citizens who have been protesting a decision by their government to withdraw fuel subsidies, which sent prices skyrocketing.
Trump said that he believes thousands of Iranians have been killed in the protests and that thousands more have been arrested.
“America will always stand with the Iranian people in their righteous struggle for freedom,” he said.
The president introduced his son-in-law and senior adviser, Jared Kushner, who has played a leading role in helping the administration craft its Mideast peace plan.
A self-described deal-maker, Trump said he had long been told that achieving peace between Israel and the Palestinians would be the hardest deal of all.
But ”ïf Jared Kushner can’t do it, it can’t be done,” Trump said.
The White House has said its Mideast peace plan is complete and had promised to release it after Israeli elections in September. The long-delayed plan remains under wraps, and Israel appears headed for its third round of elections this year.
The plan also is facing rejection by Palestinian officials, who object to the pro-Israel leanings of the Trump administration.
BH. We are lucky to have him. Another 4 years please Hashem
I saw the speech live on OAN (One America News), and really enjoyed hearing President Trump speak about Irving Berlin, and how, as a soldier during World War One, he wrote the song “G-d Bless America”, which today, is the unofficial national anthem of the USA (second only to the Star Spangled Banner). Also, I enjoyed hearing him speak about Sgt. Meyer Levin, from Brooklyn, NY, an Army Air Corps aviator, who had taken part in offensive action, against the Japanese, three days after the attack on Pearl Harbor, and how later in the war, he saved the lives of several of his crew members on a bombing mission over the Pacific, by giving them his life jacket.
It should also be noted that during the actual attack on Pearl Harbor, the first recorded shooting down of an attacking Japanese Zero, by ground fire, was accomplished by an American Jew, Lt. Stephen G. Saltzman. Saltzman was a communications officer of the 98th Coast Artillery Regiment, stationed at Schofield Barracks. He grabbed a Browning Automatic rifle, and fired on a Zero. Because of his heroic action, he was awarded the Silver Star (second highest honor), for his heroic action. His citation read:
“Lt. Saltzman voluntarily, and on his own initiative, without regard for his own safety, left the shelter of the command post, in the face of heavy fire from enemy planes. He waited in an exposed position until one of the enemy planes approached within 100 yards, and then delivered armed automatic rifle fire at one of two enemy planes, resulting in the destruction of the plane and its crew.”
On a roll, great POTUS. Glad you called out our fellow indifferent Jews. You have more sense of G-D’s message than them.
Israel will survive with or without trump, the demagogue, the liar, the bad-mouther, the unpredictable flake, the scumbag, the guy who will be impeached with G-d’ s help
anonymous: Not being nosy, but how much are membership dues to J Street and New Israel Fund these days.
Anonymouse, yours is more logical
First of all can you people refrain from this type of language. It demeans you and makes you look like idiots. Second of all MAGA! Gd will four more years!!!!