Trump said he ‘moved the capital’ of Israel to Jerusalem for evangelical Christians, who are ‘more excited’ about it than Jews

  • Trump said Monday that he “moved the capital” of Israel to Jerusalem for evangelical Christians.
  • That’s for the evangelicals,” he at a campaign rally. “You know, it’s amazing with that: the evangelicals are more excited about that than Jewish people.”
  • He was likely referring to moving the US embassy from Tel Aviv to Jerusalem in 2017 and recognising Jerusalem as Israel’s capital.

President Donald Trump said Monday that he “moved the capital” of Israel to Jerusalem for evangelical Christians, who he says were more excited about it than Jewish people.

The president was likely referring to his 2017 order recognising Jerusalem as Israel’s capital, and moving the US embassy to the city from Tel Aviv.

“We moved the capital of Israel to Jerusalem. That’s for the evangelicals,” Trump said at a campaign rally in Oshkosh, Wisconsin. “You know, it’s amazing with that: the evangelicals are more excited about that than Jewish people.”

As president of a country nearly 7,000 miles away, Trump has no authority on actually moving a capital – Israel itself recognised Jerusalem as its own capital in 1980 – but his 2017 move was still controversial.

While East Jerusalem, including the historic Old City, has been under Israeli control since 1967, Palestinians view it as the capital of any future state. The city is historically and theologically important to people of the Jewish, Muslim, and Christian faith.

Read the article by Haven Orecchio-Egresitz in Business Insider Australia.