DADDY’S LITTLE GHOUL
55 slaughtered in Gaza, but Ivanka all smiles at Jerusalem embassy unveil
THE OPENING OF the U.S. Embassy in Jerusalem turned into a major diplomatic fiasco Monday when Israeli forces killed more than 50 protesters and injured over 1,200 along the Gaza Strip during the festivities.
The White House laid the blame for the violence at the feet of Hamas, the fundamentalist Islamic group, but the international community condemned President Trump’s decision to relocate the embassy from Tel Aviv.
The President and his son-in-law, Jared Kushner, the architect of Trump’s Middle East policy, maintained it was a “great day” for Israel.
Kushner; his wife, Ivanka Trump; Treasury Secretary Steven Mnuchin, and about 800 welldressed guests attending the opening at the former U.S. Consulate compound in southeastern Jerusalem that was rededicated as the new embassy.
About 50 miles away, more than 40,000 protesters at the IsraelGaza border clashed with Israeli troops before, during and after the embassy kickoff. Kushner, in his address at the ceremony, blamed the protesters, many of whom were hurling rocks, for the violence. “Those provoking problems like we see today in Gaza are part of the problem and not part of the solution,” Kushner said. The commencement came on the 70th anniversary of Israel’s independence. It was also the single deadliest day in the territory since the 2014 war with Israel. Despite the bloodshed, Kushner told the embassy crowd that he still held hopes for peace, saying that the “journey to peace started with a strong America recognizing the truth.” The White House defended the embassy relocation and shrugged off the bloodshed. “I don’t think it hurts the peace plan. The peace plan will be introduced at the appropriate time, but what today is about is following through on what the President promised and believes,” White House spokesman Raj Shah said. “I think we for decades walked on eggshells pretending Jerusalem isn’t the capital of Israel when it obviously is.”