Trump’s way of fighting terrorism seems to be to fan its flames
■ Donald Trump has decided to declare Jerusalem the capital of Israel and an American embassy will officially open there.
One wonders whether this is sensationalism on the part of Mr Trump or blatant ignorance of the history of the Middle East, or even a reckless attempt to make things worse than they are in that part of the world for the sake of playing to Israel’s gallery.
This president doesn’t seem to know the history of all other US presidents, primarily the fact that since Harry Truman no president ever found it wise to recognise Jerusalem as the capital of the state of Israel.
But he has forged ahead in giving his eternal allies, who traditionally have always received military and political support from the USA, what they wanted, signalling to the world that Jerusalem belongs to them.
He has no time for warnings from the Arab world, first and foremost from King Abdullah of US ally Saudi Arabia, that such a move would generate a chain of rebellious reactions. For somebody who professes to be a paladin committed to combating terrorism in all its forms, this is quite rich!
Now protests in all Muslim/ Arab countries will start in earnest with Palestinians at the forefront, something that doesn’t seem to bother the present boisterous president of the United States of America.
Why is it that most Americans find it hard to understand that the Palestinian case will not go away until it is solved and that, coupled with the ill-advised invasion of Iraq, has been the catalyst for the insurgency of all rebellions and utter destabilisation in the Middle East and the existence of extremist groups that are now holding the world to ransom?
Concetto La Malfa
Dublin 4