Embassy opening spurs celebrations across Atlantic
From Vice President Mike Pence to Israel's ambassador to the United States Ron Dermer, officials from both countries praised President Trump for moving the embassy.
WASHINGTON, D.C. — Ron Dermer might have been the least well-rested among the hundreds of people gathered to celebrate one of the most historic dates on the Jewish state’s calendar, but Israel’s ambassador to the United States had a crucial task in front of him.
After having been on hand for the much-anticipated May 14 opening of the U.S. Embassy in Jerusalem, the American-born Dermer was back in Washington, D.C., that night to give thanks to the American people and the chief executive who made the celebration possible, President Donald Trump.
“Today, May 14, 2018, less than six months after President Trump made America the first country” to recognize Jerusalem as Israel’s capital, “the United States moved its embassy to Jerusalem,” a beaming Dermer said from the podium at the Israeli Embassy’s 70th Independence Day Celebration. “This historic day certainly calls for a Shehecheyanu.”
Many in the bipartisan crowd, which included military attaches and officials from the foreign diplomatic corps in Washington, joined Dermer in reciting the Hebrew blessing traditionally made when experiencing new events.
The timing of the event — weeks after Israel’s official celebrations of Yom Ha’atzmaut in accordance with the Hebrew calendar — had been set well in advance of the embassy opening, coinciding with the English date of Israel’s declaring independence. But the events in Jerusalem had a poetic ring to them, coming exactly 70 years after President Harry Truman was the first world leader to recognize Israel as a sovereign nation.
“Today the alliance between the United States and Israel is stronger than ever,” Dermer said. “The great alliance…did not happen on its own.” It was, instead, the product of “countless individuals.”
Those honorees, whose accomplishments on behalf of Israel were written up in a commemorative book given to attendees, included such luminaries as the Lubavitcher Rebbe, Rabbi Menachem M. Schneerson, Elie Wiesel and Michael Steinhardt, former presidents and philanthropic families. Vice President Mike Pence accepted a medal on behalf of Trump, who couldn’t attend because First Lady Melania Trump was in the hospital.
The 70th honoree, Dermer said, was “the American people,” to whom “Israel owes a profound debt of gratitude.”
Turning to Pence, the ambassador lauded Trump and his administration.
“Thank you for putting an end to the appeasement of the Iranian regime,” he said, pointing to the U.S. withdrawal from the Iran nuclear agreement negotiated under President Barack Obama. “Thank you for unapologetically standing with Israel at the United Nations…Thank you for unequivocally backing Israel as we defend ourselves…Thank you for having the courage and the wisdom for recognizing Jerusalem as our capital.”
Relocating the embassy amounted to nothing less, Dermer said, than “one small step for peace, and one giant leap for truth.”
In his address at the embassy, Kushner said that when Trump makes a promise, he “keeps it.”
“While presidents before him have backed down from their pledge to move the American Embassy once they were in office, this president delivered,” he said.
For his part, Netanyahu thanked Trump, who addressed the embassy opening by video, for “having the courage” to move the embassy, which Congress had mandated in a law passed way back in 1995.
“What a glorious day for Israel,” he said. “Remember this moment. This is history. President Trump, by recognizing history, you have made history. All of us are deeply moved, all of us are deeply grateful.”
Back in Washington, Pence addressed the constant security challenges Israel faces in the Middle East, although he didn’t mention the attempted storming of Israel’s border fence by Palestinians in Gaza that claimed dozens of lives when Israeli soldiers opened fire.
“Since Israel’s rebirth…there has hardly been a day when the people of Israel have…lived without war, or the fear of war or the grim reality of terror,” said Pence. “The United States and Israel have long stood together to confront the evil scourge of radical Islamic terrorism. And today, we renew our pledge to stand shoulder to shoulder as we drive that menace from the face of this Earth.” PJC
Joshua Runyan can be reached at jrunyan@pittsburghjewishchronicle.org.
JNS.org contributed to this article.
comments