Trump’s presidency means ‘greater commitment’ to Israel

The victory of US President-elect Donald Trump at a campaign to control the White House equals “greater commitment” to the racist regime of Israel, says a political commentator.

Joe Iosbaker, an activist with the United National Antiwar Coalition, made the remarks while commenting on an effort on the Senate floor by three hawkish Republicans to recognize East Jerusalem al-Quds as the capital of Israel.

Senators Ted Cruz, Marco Rubio and Dean Heller introduced the so-called Jerusalem Embassy and Recognition Act on Tuesday after being sworn into the 115th Congress in Washington.

“They want to put the US officially in the side of Israeli plans to take Jerusalem as their capital,” Iosbaker told Press TV on Wednesday. “This goes directly against the policy of the US and every other country on earth and most importantly it goes against the right of the Palestinians.”

Similar moves by Republican majorities over the past two decades have been unsuccessful, but this time they are supported by the president-elect, who repeatedly pledged during his campaign to relocate the embassy to East Jerusalem al-Quds.

The Israeli regime is a “racist” one because ‘the majority of the people that were living there in 1949 were forcibly removed when Israel was founded. If they were allowed the right to return, the colonialists, almost all European Jews, would be the minority,” said the analyst.

“Trump’s election represents a greater commitment to the racist regime of Israel,” noted the Chicago-based activist. “At the same time Israel is at its most isolated point in history.”

Still, Iosbaker argued, “we have to call for the end of US support for the terrorist regime of Israel; this includes an end to financial, military, diplomatic and political support. We also have to demand an end to the US government’s prosecution of Palestinians here in the US.”

“In the most general terms, we must continue to support the right to return for all Palestinian refugees and their descendants to homes and lands, from which they were exiled.”

Palestinians seek a sovereign state with East Jerusalem al-Quds as its capital.

Rubio described the city as “the eternal and undivided capital of Israel,” in remarks reminiscent of Trump’s comments in the run-up to the 2016 presidential election.

“The Obama administration’s vendetta against the Jewish state has been so vicious that to even utter this simple truth – let alone the reality that Jerusalem is the appropriate venue for the American embassy in Israel – is shocking in some circles,” said the Florida senator.

The Democratic administration of US President Barack Obama was a staunch supporter of the so-called two-state solution but to no avail as Tel Aviv kept up with its expansive policies in Palestine with an intransigent attitude.

The attitude has in part been the reason for sour ties between Obama and Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu, which finally led to the US abstention from voting on Security Council Resolution 2334 on December 23.

The resolution calls on Israel to “immediately and completely cease all settlement activities in the occupied Palestinian territory, including East Jerusalem al-Quds.”

It also states that the building of settlements by Israel has “no legal validity and constitutes a flagrant violation under international law.”

The continued expansion of Israeli settlements has created a major obstacle for the efforts to establish peace in the Middle East.

Over half a million Israelis live in more than 230 illegal settlements built since the 1967 Israeli occupation of the Palestinian territories of the West Bank, including East Jerusalem al-Quds.

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