A bad day for Israel

WHAT was Donald Trump thinking (if anything) when he sent his unelected, glamour-obsessed daughter Ivanka to open the new American embassy in Jerusalem?

Even he must have realised moving the embassy from Tel Aviv, in his bid to please Bible-belt voters in the US, would provoke furious protests from Palestinians – though few could have predicted the ferocity of Israel’s response, which left 58 dead.

Was he too egotistical to see that sending his daughter to pose for selfies with an exultant Israeli Prime Minister would further inflame Palestinian resentment?

Whatever the truth, the world could only shudder at the sight of Benjamin Netanyahu beaming with Ivanka while his forces were mowing down protesters in Gaza.

This was a very bad day for those, like this paper, who admire and believe in the people of both Israel and America – and yearn for peace in the tinderbox of the Middle East.

Where are the world statesmen with the stature to bring it about?