Donald Trump is a revolutionary president, and whether one likes it or not he is a game-changer. He is a man who is not scared to articulate his views and his cabinet picks so far represent his line of thought. He is the first president to have said he will shift the US embassy from Tel Aviv to Jerusalem. In line with this thinking, he has proposed the appointment of David Friedman as the US ambassador to Israel. David is a hard-liner in support of Israel and earlier had discredited the idea of a two-nation concept in Palestine. By inference, he supports the occupation and settlements by Israel of the West Bank.

The new Ambassador-designate has said that he is looking forward to the shifting of the American embassy from Tel-Aviv to Jerusalem, which Israel feels is its natural capital. Tel-Aviv is 67 miles from Jerusalem.

Donald and Jerusalem

Donald (in an address to the American Israel Public Affairs Committee in March last year) promised to shift the embassy from Tel-Aviv to Jerusalem. He repeated this many times. The proposal to shift the embassy to Jerusalem was approved in 1995 but subsequent presidents from Bill Clinton to Bush developed cold feet and shelved the proposal. They began to sign a 6 monthly waiver in a decision governed by fear of Palestine. The last waiver was signed by president Obama and will expire in May this year.

The president looks to redeem his promise. and in line with this has appointed a more hardline Ambassador to Israel. By appointing Friedman, the US president has made it clear that he supports Israel's claim to Jerusalem. The Palestine Arabs won't be happy.

Future

Donald Trump faces a lot of opposition in America and this is partly due to the fact that he has espoused revolutionary ideas.

The shifting of the US embassy to Jerusalem is one of them. He has also proposed a reset of relations with Russia, and a rethink of the concept of NATO. He had the courage to take a call from the president of Taiwan, and a delegation from that country attended the swearing-in ceremony, to the chagrin of China.