One More Positive Effect of Trump’s Win

The Associated Press reports that President Obama has decided to back off on anti-Israel moves in the wake of President-elect Trump’s victory:

President Barack Obama has nearly ruled out any major last-ditch effort to put pressure on Israel over stalled peace negotiations with the Palestinians, U.S. officials said, indicating Obama will likely avoid one last row with Israel’s government as he leaves office.

Frustrated by the lack of progress, Obama for more than a year had considered giving a major speech describing his vision for a future peace deal or, in a more aggressive step, supporting a United Nations resolution laying out parameters for such a deal. Although the goal would be to impart fresh urgency to the moribund peace process, either step would have been perceived as constraining Israel’s negotiating hand while strengthening the Palestinians’ argument on the world stage.

Those are terrible ideas. Why have they now been shelved?

Discussions about those potential maneuvers, under way before the U.S. election, have fallen off since Donald Trump’s surprise victory, officials said. Obama is now highly unlikely to approve either of those options presented to him by U.S. diplomats, said the officials….

Thanks, Donald. More good news here, with the usual AP twist:

In the latest sign he’s inclined to maintain the status quo, Obama on Thursday signed a six-month waiver to a law requiring the U.S. Embassy to be moved from Tel Aviv to Jerusalem, which Israel considers its capital.

The AP consistently uses this idiotic locution: “Jerusalem, which Israel considers its capital.” Jerusalem, where the Knesset meets, the Prime Minister’s residence is located and the Supreme Court sits, is Israel’s capital. Can you imagine the Associated Press writing a sentence like this: “Ottawa, which Canada considers its capital”? No. Only Israel is somehow suspect. But let’s move on:

Presidents have waived the law since it was enacted in 1995. But Trump has insisted he would finally follow through on moving the embassy — a move that would infuriate Palestinians, who claim Jerusalem’s eastern sector as the capital of their future state.

That’s great. Let’s hope that Trump’s word is good. This is one example among many where Trump’s willingness to blow past liberal conventional wisdom, with the overwhelming support of the American people, will pay dividends. Among other things, it will finally effectuate a longstanding plank in the Republican Party’s platform.

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