Trump's announcement is actually the culmination of years of pressure by a large bipartisan majority of Congress and leaders of both political parties towards the White House. It represents the fulfillment of the Jerusalem Embassy Act of 1995, which mandates that the United States move its embassy to Jerusalem, though the bill allows a president to waive that requirement every six months if deemed in the national interest.
In the Senate, the bill was cosponsored by such prominent Senate Democrats as Joe Biden and John Kerry and only one Democrat (the late Robert Byrd) voted no. On the House side, just thirty out of 204 Democrats voted no, along with the independent then-Congressman Bernie Sanders.
Since then, every President has taken advantage of the waiver to prevent such a provocative move, despite continued bipartisan pressure from Congress. As recently as this past June, just days after Trump issued his first waiver of the requirement, the Senate voted 90-0 in favor of a resolution re-affirming the 1995 law and calling on President Trump "to abide by its provisions." Co-sponsors included such leading Democrats as minority leader Chuck Schumer and Ben Cardin, ranking Democrat on the Foreign Affairs Committee, as well as Tammy Baldwin, Kirsten Gillibrand, Cory Booker, and Ron Wyden.
Schumer has openly encouraged Trump to move the embassy and previously criticized his "indecisiveness" on the issue.
Support by Congressional Democrats and party leaders for moving the embassy is not due to demand from their constituents. A recent poll shows that 81 percent of Democrats oppose moving the embassy while only 15 percent approve. And polls show there is not strong support for such a move among American Jews, either. This is an extreme example of how the Democratic leadership and Congressional delegation diverge from their constituencies on major foreign policy issues.
The platforms of both the Republican and Democratic parties have called for recognition of Jerusalem as the capital of Israel, but failed to acknowledged that Jerusalem is the commercial, cultural, educational, and religious center for Palestinian life.
For decades, the platforms of both the Republican and Democratic parties have called for recognition of Jerusalem as the undivided capital of Israel. Neither party has acknowledged that Jerusalem is the commercial, cultural, educational, and religious center for Palestinian life. The Palestinian Authority does not object to the Israelis having West Jerusalem as their capital as long as East Jerusalem can be the Palestinian capital and there is freedom of movement and equality for both the city's Jews and Arabs."
In 2012, then-Los Angeles mayor and current California gubernatorial candidate Antonio Villaraigosa, violated party rules by inserting an amendment into the Democratic Party platform recognizing Jerusalem as Israel's capital without the requisite two-thirds majority. In the 2016 platform, nominee Hillary Clinton--an advocate of moving the U.S. embassy to Jerusalem--successfully pushed for language declaring that Jerusalem "should remain the capital of Israel" while again saying nothing of Palestinian concerns.
Trump's dangerous and provocative move regarding Jerusalem--like so many of his reckless policies both abroad and at home--requires strong, broad-based opposition. It is unfortunate that, at least in this case, there is no real opposition party.
