Anne Reed
AFA Journal staff writer
March 2018 – Jerusalem has taken center stage in international discussions in recent months after President Donald Trump announced the U.S. Embassy would be moved from Tel Aviv to the ancient Holy City. Finally, on December 6, 2017, the U.S. officially recognized Jerusalem as Israel’s capital.
For decades, other U.S. presidents failed to fulfill their campaign promises to take the same action. The Jerusalem Embassy Act of 1995 specified that Jerusalem should be recognized as Israel’s Capital and remain an undivided city. The act also stated the U.S. Embassy would be established in Jerusalem no later than May 31, 1999. However, every U.S. president since has utilized a waiver postponing implementation of U.S. law.
President Trump’s bold follow-through on his campaign promise has stirred emotions globally, provoked protests, and inspired other national leaders to move their embassies to Jerusalem as well.
Two weeks later, on December 21, 2017, the United Nations Security Council held an emergency meeting and overwhelmingly voted in favor of a resolution condemning Trump’s decision to recognize Jerusalem as Israel’s capital.
UNSC expressed “its deep regret at recent decisions concerning the status of Jerusalem … that any decisions and actions which purport to have altered the character, status, or demographic composition of the Holy City of Jerusalem have no legal effect, are null and void and must be rescinded in compliance with relevant resolutions of the security council.”
“No vote before the United Nations will make any difference,” Nikki Haley, U.S. Ambassador to the United Nations responded in a speech before the U.N, “But this vote will make a difference on how Americans look at the U.N. and how we look at countries that disrespect us in the U.N. And this vote will be remembered.”
Follow the leader
On December 24, 2017, Jimmy Morales, president of Guatemala, announced on Facebook, “I have given instructions to the foreign ministry that it start the necessary respective coordination to [return Guatemala’s embassy to Jerusalem].” The following day, Israeli deputy foreign minister Tzipi Hotovely told Israeli public radio that Israel was in talks with more than 10 other countries that will potentially follow suit.
Upon hearing a succession of impassioned speeches, the Knesset, Israel’s single legislative body, voted on January 2, by a vote of 64 to 51, to pass the “United Jerusalem Bill,” making it nearly impossible to divide Jerusalem.
The bill is an amendment to the Jerusalem Law of 1980 that officially declared Jerusalem in its entirety as Israel’s capital. The new amendment gives teeth to the resolution by specifying that a two-thirds majority (80 of 120 members) of the Knesset is needed to surrender any portion of the Holy City in future peace agreements.
If it weren’t for the Holy Scriptures, it would be quite puzzling that so much of the world’s attention centers on a tiny country in the Middle East – a piece of land similar in size to Rhode Island. Even so, many are unaware of the spiritual undercurrents bringing about the global uprising of hostility toward Israel and the Jewish people.
A prophetic warning about such behavior toward Jerusalem is found in Zechariah 12:3b: “And all the nations of the earth will be gathered against it.”
Amidst the frenzy of controversy concerning Israel’s rights to Jerusalem, an unprecedented archaeological discovery, made public in early January 2018, lends still more proof confirming Israel’s legitimate claim to the city and dispelling disputes by the United Nations, Palestinian people, and dozens of nations around the world.
The discovery, a unique stamped piece of clay with Ancient Hebrew script reads “belonging to the governor of the city.” The coin inscription from 2,700 years ago was unearthed in the Western Wall Plaza in Jerusalem, about 100 yards from the Temple Mount where the Jewish Temples stood.
Jerusalem is the only city in Scripture called “the City of our God” (Psalm 48:1,8). It is the only capital of the Jewish people in Israel. 
