Chaos Erupts At Jerusalem Embassy Opening
President Trump kept another one of his promises by moving the United States Embassy from Tel Aviv to Jerusalem, with an inauguration ceremony occurring over the weekend. While this pleased his base it angered many Palestinians throughout the Middle East, of which many took to the streets in protest.
With many of the protests turning to violence, Israeli snipers killed scores of Palestinian protestors and wounded hundreds more of the 35,000 people against the new US Embassy opening in the holy city of Jerusalem. Among the 41 shot dead along the Gaza border was a 14 year old boy, with at least 1,300 more injured by various means of violence including live bullets. This was the deadliest single day in the Israeli-Palestinian conflict since the 2014 offensive against Gaza's Islam rulers Hamas.
According to Gaza officials the Palestinian government accused Israel of committing a 'terrible massacre' with Amnesty International calling the bloodshed an 'abhorrent violation' of human rights.
This afternoon a White House delegation - including Ivanka Trump and her husband - gathered for an inauguration ceremony for the opening of the new embassy alongside Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu.
The US President tossed aside decades of precedent when he recognized the city as Israel's capital in December - a decision that sparked global outcry, Palestinian anger and exuberant praise from Israelis.
Russia said today it feared the embassy opening would increase tension in the Middle East while Turkey's President Tayyip Erdogan warned the US it had forfeited its role as a mediator in the region and was now 'part of the problem rather than the solution'.
As deadly clashes continued this afternoon, Trump said in a video address aired at the opening that the embassy has been a 'long time coming' and that the U.S. had 'failed to acknowledge the obvious' for many years. He added that 'today, we follow through on this recognition' and that the new embassy was opening 'many, many years ahead of schedule.'
Trump also said his 'greatest hope' is for peace and that he 'remains fully committed to facilitating a lasting peace agreement'. His on-in-law Jared Kushner said the opening showed the US could be trusted and that 'when President Trump makes a promise, he keeps it'.
