Just whose rabbi?

Donald Trump declares that Jerusalem is the capital of Israel.

As the analysis states, the PLO disputes whether “Israel in modern times has a connection to the city that was the capital of the biblical Jewish state and where its holiest site, the Temple Mount, once stood.” The article characterizes Ms. Ashrawi as insisting “it is ‘crazy’ in the year 2017 ‘to determine geopolitical realities on the basis of 3,000 years ago.’”

Oh, really? Ms. Ashrawi thinks it is crazy that the Jews could be the indigenous people of the biblical Jewish state?

The problem is that the world is ambivalent about the Jewish state and its people. Even after the Balfour Declaration, the British were reluctant to give the Jews full rights. When the United Nations discussed the 1947 partition plan, Jerusalem was placed in an international area – the basis for the nonrecognition by the United States and other countries, and the reason that acting US Assistant Secretary [of State] for Near Eastern Affairs David Satterfield had to dance around the topic.

As Ms. Ashrawi stated, it is 2017. The world is belatedly recognizing that the government of Israel is in Jerusalem and the 1947 status of Jerusalem is moot. Jerusalem will not be divided, and the current status quo under the Jewish state’s government is better than the ideas others are trying to maintain.

SHELDON DAN Memphis, Tennessee

I hereby request that you remove the sobriquet “America’s rabbi” from the No Holds Barred columns by Shmuley Boteach. He hardly represents the beliefs of most American Jews.

May I inquire as to where and when this title was awarded to him? My best guess is that it was created by the rabbi himself. It is inappropriate. ROSANNE SKOPP

Herzliya