It has been 70 years since the Jewish people were allowed to return to their homeland of Israel after World War II, and on Monday the United States will be moving its embassy to their capital city, Jerusalem. And during ABC’s Good Morning America on Sunday, they proclaimed the Trump administration was “killing any prospect of peace” in the region with the embassy move. Their naysaying came as the President was set to sit down with North Korea for historic peace talks and denuclearization.
“Overseas this morning, we now have growing concern about President Trump fulfilling a controversial campaign promise,” declared fill-in anchor Adrienne Bankert as they shifted to the topic. “Tomorrow in Israel, the U.S. will officially move the embassy from Tel-Aviv to Jerusalem, a city that both Israelis and Palestinian view as their capital. This will be seen as a provocative move across the Middle East,” added co-anchor Dan Harris.
The two anchors sought the insight of foreign correspondent Ian Pannell, who previously blamed the U.S. and Israel for destabilizing the region after Israel defended itself from Iranian rocket attacks. “Jerusalem is a major flashpoint issue with both sides laying claim to parts or even all of it. So while almost every other country in the world tried to stay on the fence and keep its embassies in Tel-Aviv,” he explained. “America is now seen by many across this region to be siding firmly with Israel, killing any prospect of peace,” he said, appearing to assert that America’s support of Israel was a problem.
Pannell than seemed to attribute any future unrest or violence on Monday to the presence of Jewish members of the Trump family in Israel for the event:
Now, though, the reaction was muted in December when President Trump announced his intention to move the embassy to Jerusalem, it could be very different this time round when his daughter, Ivanka, and son-in-law and adviser Jared Kushner attend the official opening this week. And here's why: It’s 70 years since the creation of the State of Israel. But for Palestinians, it’s what they call the ‘nakba,’ catastrophe in Arabic. Commemorating the hundreds of thousands who were made homeless 70 years ago.
Then, with absolutely no solid context to the unrest and attacks in recent weeks or the influence of Hamas and the Palestinian Authority, Pannell then suggested: “scores have been killed by Israel.”
A short time later, Harris then turned to ABC Chief Foreign correspondent Martha Raddatz to get her take on the embassy move, and surprise, she didn’t care for it either. “You know, Dan, just as you said and just as Ian said, you could certainly see more protests across the region,” she opined. “And people were so hopeful at certain points during history that there might be some sort of peace deal, this just has to make it nearly impossible.”
Of course, there was no mention of the fact that throughout history there have been numerous attempts to broker peace between Israel and the Palestinians and every single time it was the latter to break the agreement. There have even been cease-fires signed by the two that the Palestinians broke within just a few minutes of the pens being put down. But the narrative is the U.S. and Israel are the agitators in the region. These were some of the same people who were warning that Trump could start a nuclear war with North Korea.
The transcript is below, click "expand" to read:
ABC
Good Morning America
May 13, 2018
8:09:50 AM EasternADRIENNE BANKERT: Overseas this morning, we now have growing concern about President Trump fulfilling a controversial campaign promise.
DAN HARRIS: Tomorrow in Israel, the U.S. will officially move the embassy from Tel-Aviv to Jerusalem, a city that both Israelis and Palestinian view as their capital. This will be seen as a provocative move across the Middle East. And ABC’s Ian Pannell is covering the story from Iraq. Ian, good morning.
IAN PANNELL: Dan, good morning. Here in the Middle East, people are bracing to see what the impact of this move is going to be. Jerusalem is a major flashpoint issue with both sides laying claim to parts or even all of it. So while almost every other country if the world tried to stay on the fence and keep its embassies in Tel-Aviv, America is now seen by many across this region to be siding firmly with Israel, killing any prospect of peace. Now, though, the reaction was muted in December when President Trump announced his intention to move the embassy to Jerusalem, it could be very different this time round when his daughter, Ivanka, and son-in-law and adviser Jared Kushner attend the official opening this week.
And here's why. It's 70 years since the creation of the State of Israel. But for Palestinians, it’s what they call the “nakba,” catastrophe in Arabic. Commemorating the hundreds of thousands who were made homeless 70 years ago. And it's also the start of Ramadan. Now, Palestinians have already been protesting for weeks. And scores have been killed by Israel. But now, the unprecedented tension in recent weeks between Israel and Iran have many worried about an outbreak of even more violent clashes and death. Dan?
HARRIS: Ian, thank you very much. Ian Pannell reporting in from Iraq, this morning. So, let's bring in ABC’s Martha Raddatz, who’s in Washington, where she’s going to be hosting This week later this morning right here on ABC. Martha, good morning. Let's start with Israel. From your perch, having covered these issues for many years, what are the potential national security implications of moving that embassy to Jerusalem?
MARTHA RADDATZ: You know, Dan, just as you said and just as Ian said, you could certainly see more protests across the region. And I think from my perspective, having covered this region for so long. And people were so hopeful at certain points during history that there might be some sort of peace deal, this just has to make it nearly impossible. Because you go in with any sort of predetermination about Jerusalem. About the capital. So, I think it would make that much, much more difficult. Of course, we have Jared Kushner there, who is in charge of that. But it's going to be a difficult road ahead, I think.
(…)
