Benjamin Netanyahu's response to Trump's Jerusalem announcement is just beautiful

Enjoying the meaningful support of another world leader has been a rare experience for Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu. It was especially rare during the Obama Administration, when even the one country that is nominally Israel's best friend is backstabbing it at the UN and in negotiations with Iran that completely disregard all of Israel's security concerns. Some friend we were then. But the sad truth is that Israel has very few friends in the world, since anti-Semitism is such a pernicious force, and most nations that are not overtly anti-Semitic themselves are far too afraid of those who are, and see no reason to stand up to their threats and attempts at coercion. So when Donald Trump announced yesterday that the United States would finally keep its commitment and move its embassy in Israel from Tel Aviv to Jerusalem - the true capital of Israel as U.S. law has officially recognized since 1995 - Netanyahu could hardly contain his glee. And who could blame him?

Trump's decision is much more than mere symbolism

Trump's decision is much more than mere symbolism. It turns the tables on those who have, via constant threats of violence, denied Israel the right to choose its own capital. There is no reason this should be the slightest bit controversial. Jerusalem is very much a part of the political entity known as Israel, with borders set out via United Nations resolutions in 1947. Every other country in the world chooses its own capital from within its borders and no one thinks it's an issue - because it's not. Only in Israel to outsiders claim to have a veto over the use of a city, backed by the threat of terrorism and missile attacks from other countries. Trump's announcement was met, unsurprisingly, with widespread condemnation from throughout the world. But you'll notice that the condemnation doesn't include claims that the siting of the embassy itself will cause any problems. The expected problems come in the form of violence from Israel's enemies, and therein lies the problem. People who would commit murder over the location of an embassy might now have the excuse they need, and this is the fault of the man who merely made the choice to establish an embassy in a capital city? Nonsense. If people commit violence over this, that's on them and on no one else. What Trump has done is refuse to allow such threats to dictate U.S. policy toward one of its most important and best allies - and in so doing he has reversed the willingness of all his recent predecessors to cave in the face of such threats World "leaders" and squirrely diplomats routinely throw Israel under the bus in the name of "stability," because they know that if violence occurs it won't be Israel committing it. It will the Palestinians, or the Iranians, or Hamas, or Hezbollah, or some other hater of Jews and of freedom in general will be perpetrating the evil. Rather than deal with that, the global cabal of weasels prefers to keep telling Israel to shut up and not cause trouble - even though Israel has no interest in causing any trouble. It only wants to live freely and at peace. The antipathy toward Israel was never more blatant than what we saw at the UN in January, days before the inauguration, when the Obama Administration stood by and refused to veto a resolution that turned perfectly innocent Israel officials into international war criminals. It was one of the worst betrayals of an ally ever seen in international relations, but Obama took very little heat for it because most of the media hate Israel too. On Wednesday, Trump established that the U.S. government will no longer play this game, and will no longer accept that failed conventional wisdom that those who advocate for Israel's strategic interests are the problem. Those who refuse to let Israel live in peace are the problem, and what the Israelis need in an ally is recognition of that fact, and actions that comport with that recognition. At long last, that happened yesterday. No wonder Netanyahu was smiling. Indeed, everyone who truly loves peace and freedom should be.