Hurling insults at Israel after President Donald Trump’s Dec. 6 announcement that he recognizes Jerusalem as Israel’s capital, 53-year-old Turkish President Recep Tayyip Erdogan called Israel as “terrorist state.” Since the July 15, 2016 Istanbul coup, Erdogan has incarcerated his “opposition,” destroyed Turkey’s free press and fired thousands of civil service employees, teachers and university professors for allegedly backing the coup. Nowhere in any NATO country has anyone witnessed such a brutal crackdown on civil and human rights. Yet Erdogan seized on the chance to pander to his Islamist base, calling Israel a terrorist state. Instead of ripping Trump’s decision to recognize Jerusalem as Israel’s capital, Erdogan spread more anti-Semitic lies about Israel—by far the only real democracy in the Middle East. Erdogan hoped to score political points with Arab states.
Trump’s decision to recognize Jerusalem as Israel’s capital stemmed from a 1995 law passed by Congress specifically designed to recognize Jerusalem as Israel’s capital. Since seizing Jordan’s East Jerusalem and the West Bank in 1967, Israel has managed Jerusalem for over 50 years, guaranteeing safe access to Jewish, Christian and Muslim holy sites. Trump’s decision did not preclude Palestinians from negotiating for East Jerusalem as its capital of a future state. Unlike Russia, China and European Union, Czech Republic’s 73-year-old President Milos Zeman called his EU partners “cowards” for pandering to Palestinians and Arab States, rejecting Trump’s recognition of Jerusalem as Israel’s capital. Zeman fully backs Israel’s right to West Jerusalem, leaving East Jerusalem to future negotiations. Trump’s hoped to jump-start the Israeli-Palestinian peace talks by changing U.S. policy on Jerusalem.
Condemnations of Trump’s decision to recognize Jerusalem as Israel’s capital says nothing new, other than antagonizing Palestinians, stubbornly resisting coming to the peace table. Zeman’s strong backing of West Jerusalem as Israel’s capital underscores the obvious issue about a two-state solution. Any final status agreement would of course include East Jerusalem as Palestine’s capital. Yet Arab states and EU countries won’t admit Trump’s necessity of pushing Palestinians back to the bargaining table. Staging riots or threatening new terrorist attacks in Israel assures that Palestinians won’t get an independent state anytime soon. “The European Union, cowards, are doing all they can so a pro-Palestinian terrorist movement can have supremacy over a pro-Israel movement,” said Zeman, calling out the EU’s hypocrisy. Zeman rejected EU requests to take more Mideast immigration.
Zeman’s point to EU officials is that Israel has stood with Euopean and Arab states fighting terrorism, not something Palestinians have done. Rejecting the EU’s liberal immigration policy, Zeman joins Poland’s 47-year-old President Andzej Duda and Hungary’s 54-year-old President Viktor Orban in refusing Mideast refuges because of their propensities for terrorism. There’s noting glamorous watching Islamic terrorists slaughter EU citizens in European capitals. While there’s hope that the Islamic State of Iraq and Syria [ISIS] is all-but-defeated, there are plenty more Islamic terror groups ready to perform mayhem in Europe. “Palestine is an innocent victim . . . As for Israel, it is a terrorist state, yes, terrorst!” Erdogan said in a speech in Sivas in Central Turkey. With Erdogan’s crackdown in full swing on many groups, he needs to divert Turkey’s misery to a foreign foe like Israel.
Erdogan knows his commitment to Palestinians stops with sycophantic stump speeches, designed, above all else, to rally support to his government from the Islamist community. Erdogan’s crackdown has practically destroyed Turkey’s economy and prevented it for the foreseeable future from joining the EU. Edrgan’s daily crackdown on dissent, civil liberties and human rights leaves Turkey the most repressive regime in Europe. “We will not abandon Jerusalem to the mercy of a state that kills children,” said Erdogan. Erdogan knows that Hamas has massacred men-women-and-children in suicide bombings on Israeli civilians. Israel has been a faithful steward of Jerusalem since taking it from Jordan June 10, 1967 at the end of the Six-Day-War. Beyond the rhetoric from Erdogan, Turkey has done next-to-nothing to help the Palestinians deal with failed infrastructure and widespread poverty.
Trump’s decision to recognize Jerusalem as Israel’s capital hopes to push the Palestinians back to the peace table. Trump deliberately left the door open to negotiations on East Jerusalem, exactly what Palestinians want. With Hamas’ 54-year-old Leader Ismail Hanieyeh calling for a new intifada or uprising with Israel, it’s clear that he doesn’t want peace. “We will show that applying the measure will not be as easy as that,” said Erdogan, promising to use the Organization of Islamic Cooperation to condemn Trump’s move. When you consider it’s only the U.S. position, Erdogan and other world leaders don’t understand how to get both sides back to the peace table. Instead of rioting, Palestinians should stop rioting and violence, and return to the peace table. If there’s any hope left of a two-state solution, it’s because Palestinians realize riots and terrorism won’t get them anywhere.
