Despite the festive atmosphere, guests of Monday’s inauguration of the American embassy in Jerusalem were acutely aware of the deadly violence taking place at the same time along Israel’s border with the Gaza Strip.
As they waited for the VIPs to arrive and the festivities to start, many in the audience received constant updates on the security situation at the southern border. Some watched live newscasts on their phones, letting their spouses know every time the death toll increased. There was palpable concern as the number rose and it became clear the violence would likely have implications for Israel beyond some fleeting headlines.
But attendees made clear they would not let the mounting bloodshed in Gaza spoil the party. The people had braved long lines and exceedingly tight security arrangements to come to the new embassy in the capital’s Arnona neighborhood and celebrate what they felt was a truly unique moment in the history of the Jewish people.
“What a glorious day. Remember this moment. This is history,” Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu declared at the beginning of his speech, trying to channel the collective feeling of the 800 guests, most of whom were supporters of US President Donald Trump and many of whom were wearing blue and red baseball hats they had been handed, bearing the new embassy’s seal.
“President Trump, by recognizing history, you have made history,” Netanyahu went on.
Jared Kushner, the president’s son-in-law and senior adviser, made the only reference to Gaza in about a dozen speeches. “The protests of the last month and even today,” he said, proved that “those provoking violence are part of the problem and not part of the solution.”
Pastor John Hagee’s closing benediction, some 90 minutes later, struck a similar theme. “We thank you, O Lord, for President Donald Trump’s courage in acknowledging to the world a truth established 3,000 years ago that Jerusalem is and always shall be the eternal capital of the Jewish people,” he said to loud cheers and amens.
Ten members of the House of Representatives, four senators, and one governor attended the ceremony — and not a single Democrat among them.
“I hope that the Democratic members [of Congress] had [scheduling] conflicts and they had to be somewhere else,” former Democratic senator Joe Lieberman had told The Times of Israel earlier on Monday, a few hours before the event started. “I hope that they don’t see this as some kind of pro-Trump rally in Jerusalem. It’s not. It’s a pro-US-Israel friendship-partnership-alliance rally.”
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