Jay Ambrose: Trump surprises world with the truth about Jerusalem

President Donald Trump has recognized Jerusalem as the capital of Israel, and it absolutely, undeniably is and has been for 70 years. In fact, an American law has said as much since 1995 and past presidents named Bill Clinton, George W. Bush and Barack Obama all echoed the indubitable verdict at one time or another.

But, oh, what a Trumpian horror, it’s said.

The U.N. Security Council has condemned Trump’s decision, especially his intent to finally move our embassy from Tel Aviv to where the Israeli government is. That is seen as a kind of conclusiveness, and, with rabble- rousing anger, Palestinian leaders have said it’s no longer going to meet with U. S. representatives to discuss a twostate peace solution with Israel. Other Arab nations in the Middle East are snarling, too, and European leaders are astonished at so flagrant a foul.

Here, we are told, could be a significant setback to peace negotiations, but such setbacks started with the founding of Israel and have been mainly the fault of Palestinians wanting Jewish settlers tossed out or extinguished. In the beginning, the international community mapped out a plan in which Israel and Palestine would get different territories. The Palestinians weren’t having any, went to war in 1948 to get rid of the Israelis and the Israel won enough land to sustain itself.

Part of what Israel captured was the western portion of Jerusalem. It had been declared an international city, but Israel established its capital there despite some still insistent naysayers. In a war with Arab states in 1967, Israel captured the eastern portion of Jerusalem from Jordan along with the West Bank it continues to control militarily.

If the Palestinian leaders thought a two- state solution might include Israel handing over western Jerusalem as a capital for them, they were living in never- never land. However, eastern Jerusalem as a Palestinian capital remains a possibility. Trump said nothing in his remarks about refusing to divide up the city again, and his U. N. ambassador, Nikky Haley, said the United States would have no objections if the two parties agreed to such a thing.

The real hindrance to the twostate solution is that the Hamas terrorists who run the Palestinian Gaza Strip still see the only answer as the elimination of Israel, occasionally firing missiles to make the point. Then there is the Palestinian Authority representing the Palestinians on the West Bank and its funding of terrorists who visit Israel for fatal purposes. The issue of Jerusalem as the capital is nothing compared to all of this.

Of course, many will tell you that the Jews fleeing Europe after World War II had no right to settle in Israel despite their ages- old holy sites and Jews already there. They say Israel has violated international rules, that it has occupied the West Bank for far too long and that Palestinians there have been badly mistreated.

To say Israel has done no wrong would be fallacious. But look at the context of all of this: the Holocaust, anti- Semitism, tiny Israel surrounded by major Arab states wanting its demise, Israel twice making generous offers to the Palestinians demanding all or nothing, the Palestinian reluctance to even talk to Israelis and the Israeli need for endless self- defense to survive.

What we have in Israel is a self- disciplined, industrious, innovative nation that is humane and democratic despite the endless assaults of a United Nations filled with nations that are no such thing. Israel is one of our best allies, is hugely important to us and deserves our support.

Right now, other Arab nations that are likewise threatened by Iran are considering a closer relationship with this militarily fit nation. It’s said that, if the two- state solution fails, Israel will have to absorb the Palestinians, but there is another suggested solution in which Israel returns much of the West Bank to Jordan, Egypt gets the Gaza Strip and Palestinians work things out with other Arabs.

When I was a young boy, everyone in the family ate eggs except me. To me, the white is just a tasteless pile of goo and the sunny yellow looks so icky.

I don’t like any kind of hot cereal. As a result, I have never liked breakfast very much. I do like sausage, ham and bacon, biscuits and toast, but not every day. Most days I just eat a bowl of cold cereal and milk.

When I was teaching, I never ate breakfast, two or three cups of coffee held me until lunch.

Go into any restaurant and the breakfast menu is mostly about the eggs. I know that pies, cakes, breads and other dishes contain eggs. I love eating these foods as long as I can’t taste the eggs.

For years, my mother tried to get me to eat eggs. She said they were so good and healthy for me. I was young, I wasn’t worried about my health. I told her, “Mother, when I grow up and have to go into the Army, I will eat eggs.”

Just for spite, I joined the Navy and retired from the Air Force and I have never eaten an egg.

One of my worse egg moments happened on a train to Washington, D. C. when I was in the sixth grade. I won a trip to Washington D. C. for being a school patrol boy. There were two winners and we were escorted to Washington by a local policeman. On the train, at breakfast the menu contained mostly egg dishes. I just wanted a slice of ham and buttered toast. There was no slice of ham listed on the menu. There was a thing called a ham omelet listed. I had no idea what an omelet was, I had never seen or heard of one. Ham is ham, so I ordered a ham omelet. When the waiter served it, I shouted, “This is just a pile of eggs, I ordered ham!” He replied “Sir, you ordered a ham omelet, an omelet is eggs.”

I spent the rest of breakfast picking pieces of ham out of that pile of eggs. I do like deviled eggs, but I just eat the yellow and throw away the white.