Trump's Jerusalem move triggers a global chain reaction as nations follow his lead
December 7, 2017
Trump's Jerusalem move triggers a global chain reaction as nations follow his lead
By Monica Showalter
There's nothing like a little U.S. leadership. President Trump's announcement that he was moving the U.S. embassy to Jerusalem is seeing a heartening chain reaction as other nations follow our lead. Israeli Prime Minister Binyamin Netanyahu says he's hearing from all kinds of nations now. And the reasons are as much internal to the states following President Trump's lead as they are supportive of Israel. It seems that to affirm Israel is to affirm oneself.
The Czech Republic wasted no time declaring that it, too, would be moving its capital to Jerusalem. It would make sense, yet it's a little bit curious. The move has none of the religious overtones that fueled the move in the U.S. The Czechs are one of the most atheistic countries in Europe. But there are other factors: the Czechs surely wanted to throw a sopping mop into the face of its European Union masters who are attempting to foist millions of angry Islamic "refugees" onto the tiny unwilling nation. And it's possible the Czech leaders, even the lefty they have elected, gets along well with Israel's Prime Minister Binyamin Netanyahu. But even more likely, the Czechs and Israelis get along very well as peoples, given that both nations, generally speaking, have a lot of brainy people: intellectuals, people of high culture, and entrepreneurs. There may have been domestic political pressures in the Czech declaration that it would move its capital to Jerusalem.
There's also a wave of sub-Saharan African states, Christian nations, preparing an exodus to Jerusalem. Many of these states are under threat of Islamicization and Islamist terror, of course. But Ethiopia and Israel have had good relations for years, and Ethiopia is deeply Christian. Kenya, Malawi, South Africa, Botswana, Tanzania and Angola are all nations worth watching, too. In the case of Africa, there's a repeating cultural motif of love for Israel and the promised land, too, linked to its generally dynamic Christian culture. To move a nation's embassy to Jerusalem is to signal a fealty to the Lord, and to express something about what one is as a nation, an identity move. South African folk singer Johnny Clegg has a notable song in his repertoire on Jerusalem, Ethiopia has heritage of attachment to Zion, too. Religious factors are likely to run deep in this region's move toward Jerusalem.
Lastly, there is talk that the Philippines may move its embassy to Jerusalem. This may have a religious aspect, too. But the personal is not to be dismissed here, it's probably pretty marked. President Duterte of the Philippines is well known for going it alone and he has a significant contempt for Europe's polite society. What better way to show that than to follow President Trump on Israel now that the Eurotrash and all its human rights investigators is howling about it? Not being an especially virtuous man himself, he can virtue-signal to the Philippines' religious people about being aligned to Jerusalem to make up for some of his less justifiable actions internally, while annoying the global elites at the same time.
Another factor, which will have to be investigated, but is likely worth looking at is the impact of the great wave of arrests in Saudi Arabia and the oil bust. Saudi cash from the now-arrested princelings has until recently been spread liberally in the U.S. (the Clinton Foundation sopped it up like a sponge) and throughout the third world. The oil bust and the demise of the patrons and their cash has ended a lot of buying off of nations for Arab grievance causes such as terrorist-infested Palestine. No Saudi money, no reason to follow the old agenda - especially since Saudi Arabia under its new ruler isn't interested in that agenda, either. Saudi Arabia with its new leadership actually wants to get along with Israel. We can await Saudi Arabia's move to Jerusalem to really shake things up.
But President Trump's move to Jerusalem was what opened the floodgates. Seems that going it alone and asserting one's sovereignty in the name of national interests, not EU and UN diktats or Saudi cash is being recognized by quite a few nations as good for everyone. All it took was President Trump to light the candle. This is wonderful.
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