Israel: Frustrated, disappointed by Reform rejection of Trump's statement
The Republican Jewish Coalition praised US President Trump for his announcement of a “significant change in US policy.”
By JTAUpdated: DECEMBER 8, 2017 17:18Dani Dayan(photo credit: NOAM ATIA)
Israel’s consul in New York, Dani Dayan, called “deeply frustrating and disappointing” the Union for Reform Judaism’s negative reaction to President Donald Trump’s recognition of Jerusalem as Israel’s capital.Dayan said this on Wednesday, according to the Makor Rishon daily, following a statement by Rabbi Rick Jacobs, who head the Reform Union, on behalf of the organizations of the movement.Jacobs wrote that Trump’s declaration Wednesday “affirms what the Reform Jewish movement has long held: that Jerusalem is the eternal capital of the Jewish people and the State of Israel. Yet while we share the President’s belief that the US Embassy should, at the right time, be moved from Tel Aviv to Jerusalem, we cannot support his decision to begin preparing that move now, absent a comprehensive plan for a peace process.”Dayan said the statement was “deeply frustrating and disappointing because Jerusalem is the uniting force of the Jewish People.”Jacobs also said that the White House should not undermine efforts toward making peace between Israel and the Palestinians by “making unilateral decisions that are all but certain to exacerbate the conflict.”The Republican Jewish Coalition praised the president for his announcement of a “significant change in US policy” by recognizing Jerusalem as Israel’s capital and announcing a plan to begin the process of moving the US Embassy to Jerusalem from Tel Aviv.Malcolm Hoenlein, president of the Conference of Presidents of Major American Jewish Organizations, said Trump was doing “the right thing.”“When President Trump visited the Western Wall and made a declaration recognizing Jerusalem as holy to the Jews after the denunciation of UNESCO, there was not even one warm-up, not one demonstration, because when you do the right thing, you do not have to ask questions, you just do it,” Hoenlein said Wednesday in an address at the launching of the Lobby for the Protection of the Mount of Olives in the Knesset.