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Following Trump, These Countries Also May Recognize Jerusalem as Israel’s Capital

Many U.S. allies roundly criticized the Trump administration’s move to recognize Jerusalem as the capital of Israel, but America doesn’t stand alone on the white-hot issue.

“President Trump has planted the seeds of this long overdue shift,” @PastorJohnHagee says.

In fact, the Czech Republic appeared to jump at the opportunity to say that it already considered Jerusalem, not Tel Aviv, to be the capital of the Jewish state.

The Czech foreign ministry announced:

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The Czech Republic currently, before the peace between Israel and Palestine is signed, recognizes Jerusalem to be in fact the capital of Israel in the borders of the demarcation line from 1967. … The ministry can start considering moving of the Czech embassy from Tel Aviv to Jerusalem only based on results of negotiations with key partners in the region and in the world.

For its part, the United States is delaying moving its embassy from Tel Aviv to Jerusalem, pending a State Department review.

On Tuesday, the European Union denied a request from Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu to recognize Jerusalem as the U.S. government has.

Meanwhile, top lawmakers from two African countries, Ghana and Tanzania, indicated their nations could support a similar move to recognize Jerusalem as Israel’s capital.

Hungary blocked an EU resolution condemning the U.S. decision, but hasn’t taken action to recognize Jerusalem on its own.

Much work remains, but the U.S. move gives hope to Israel supporters such as the Rev. John Hagee, senior pastor of a large evangelical church in Texas and founder of the group Christians United for Israel.

“America acts and the world takes notice,” Hagee told The Daily Signal in a written statement. “We’ve already seen the Czech Republic recognize Jerusalem as Israel’s capital.”

“In addition, due to the Israelis’ incredible emphasis on humanitarian assistance,” he said, “the Jewish state has deep relations with many African countries and other nations in the developing world, and that is perhaps the reason we’ve seen leaders from Tanzania and Ghana indicate a willingness to follow President Trump’s lead.”

Hagee, president and CEO of John Hagee Ministries, added that Trump simply “confirmed a 3,000-year-old historical fact,” but acknowledged that the rest of the world would be a challenge.

“This said, the unfortunate tradition of not recognizing Jerusalem as Israel’s capital has 70 years behind it—it will take some time to reverse,” Hagee said. “But President Trump has planted the seeds of this long overdue shift, and with persistence, it will eventually be accepted more broadly. America leads once again.”

Read More: Daily Signal