The UN has decided to reject President Trump's recognition of Jerusalem as the capital of Israel. An overwhelming majority of 128 countries voted in favor of Palestine against Trump's decision. Israel is the US's strongest ally in the Middle East and the US has passed legislation officially recognizing Jerusalem as the capital of Israel. The US has threatened to cut funding to countries that vote against their decision to move an embassy to Jerusalem and recognize Jerusalem as the capital of Israel. While many believe that Israel is illegally occupying East Jerusalem, including most of the international community and the BDS movement, here are 3 reasons why Jerusalem belongs to Israel.
1. Jerusalem is already the de facto capital of Israel.
Israel annexed Jerusalem following the Six Day War. Unfortunately, the international community rejected the annexation and still refers to East Jerusalem as being Palestinian territory that is illegally occupied by Israel. Jerusalem is controlled by Israel and all branches of the Israeli government are there. It is referred to by Israel itself as the nation's capital. If a nation holds a territory and declares it the capital then that territory is the capital. To say that Jerusalem does not belong to Israel would be absolutely delusional. To make the argument that Israel illegally annexed Jerusalem and so they have no right to it would be like saying that the US illegally obtained all its land from the Indians and so America belongs to the Indians. Such a statement ignores observable reality which is that America now belongs to the United States and likewise Jerusalem now belongs to Israel.
2. The majority of the people in Israel are Jewish.
Around 64% of people in Jerusalem are Jewish. It can therefore be assumed that if we were to go by the majority, most of the citizens of Jerusalem would support recognizing Jerusalem as the capital of Israel.
3. If Jerusalem was handed over to the Palestinians, Jews would suffer.
Hamas is part of the Palestinian National Authority and they are a terrorist organization that wants to wipe Israel off the map. If they were to take over Jerusalem, Jews that remained in the city would face violence and discrimination. Before Israel controlled Jerusalem, Muslims did. When Jerusalem was controlled by Muslims, there were instances when Muslims desecrated Jewish holy sites and massacred Jews. Under Muslim rule, Jews were not able to visit Jewish holy sites while under Jewish rule, Muslims could visit Muslim holy sites.
