opinions & letters
The Jerusalem Embassy,
Five Years Later
Nikki Haley
T he United States finally opened our embassy
in Jerusalem, 23 years after we first promised
to do so.

This was an important moment for Israel. But it was
just as important for America. It showed that we keep
our word, stand with our allies and put our own inter-
ests and principles ahead of the world’s demands.

The day was a long time coming. In 1995,
Congress passed and President Bill Clinton signed
the Jerusalem Embassy Act, which pledged to move
the American embassy from Tel Aviv to Jerusalem.

This should not have been a controversial move.

Jerusalem is Israel’s capital. America had located its
embassy in the capital city of every other country,
just not Israel.

embassy. After Donald Trump finally implemented
the act, I proudly vetoed a U.N. resolution criticizing
the U.S. for doing so. I was the lone veto out of the
15-member Security Council. It was the first U.S. veto
at the U.N. in nearly seven years.

In my speech following the veto, I explained,
“Jerusalem has been the political, cultural and spiri-
tual homeland of the Jewish people for thousands
of years” and that America was acknowledging the
obvious. Just as importantly, I stood up to the critics,
defended American sovereignty and took the names
of those who attacked us. As I warned, “The United
States will remember this day in which it was singled
out for attack in the General Assembly for the very
act of exercising our right as a sovereign nation. …
This vote will be remembered.”
For too long, America acted like an international
The U.S. embassy in Jerusalem is a proud symbol
of American strength and the strength of the
U.S.-Israel relationship.

But Republicans and Democrats alike ignored the
act. Even though it was passed by an overwhelming
margin, three straight presidents declined to imple-
ment it. They were warned that the sky would fall if
we moved our embassy. So, the leaders of the free
world gave into fear and cowardice.

Even in 2017, it was not a foregone conclusion that
America would fulfill its decades-old promise. Many
of my colleagues in the Trump administration were
strongly opposed to the idea. They warned that
our allies would turn against us, Americans would
be killed and war in the Middle East would quickly
ignite. Some of us knew better. Twenty-two years of the
status quo hadn’t curbed Palestinian terrorism or
brought the two sides closer to a peace agreement.

Our unwillingness to act only made America look
weak. A country that can’t fulfill a simple decades-
old promise to an ally is a country no one respects.

Everyone walks all over it.

Moving our embassy was ultimately about stand-
ing up for ourselves. No one — not the U.N., not
our friends and certainly not our enemies — has
the right to tell the United States where to put our
doormat. We worried more about upsetting enemies
than defending friends. We looked the other way
when evil regimes committed unspeakable crimes.

We convinced ourselves that playing nice would
make the worst countries in the world play nice too.

They did not. All we did was embarrass ourselves.

Five years later, the U.S. embassy in Jerusalem is a
proud symbol of American strength and the strength
of the U.S.-Israel relationship. It is also a reminder of
how America can and must ignore the bullies and do
what’s right — not least because it puts the bullies in
their place.

How things have changed. Under President Joe
Biden, America has gone into retreat. From the
surrender in Afghanistan to the failure to deter
Russia from invading Ukraine to putting partisan
politics ahead of allies like Israel, Biden is listening
to the same foolish ideas — often from the same
foolish people — that I heard over and over before
we moved the embassy to Jerusalem. They say that
weakness is really strength, that inaction is really
leadership. It wasn’t then. It isn’t now. More than ever before,
the United States needs to send the message that
our friends can trust us, our enemies should fear us
and we’ll do what’s right no matter who stands in the
way. That is the lesson of moving the U.S. embassy
to Jerusalem. It’s a lesson we need to remember, and
then remind the world of it. ■
Nikki Haley is the former U.S. ambassador to the
United Nations and a Republican presidential
candidate. letters
Heritage Months Serve a Purpose
Jonathan Tobin is wrong (“Jews Don’t Need a Heritage
Month, and Neither Does Anyone Else,” May 11) about
why various groups need heritage months, which
provide opportunities to teach important aspects
about those who’ve landed on our shores.

For centuries, it was through our country’s white
Anglo-Saxon Protestant founders and their descen-
dants that the story of America was told. With much
information to impart, teachers inevitably concen-
trate on teaching the larger stories. However, it’s
important that other immigrants tell their stories of
how they arrived and the welcome they received.

Instead of ignoring other cultures let us learn about
them, celebrate their history and appreciate their
contributions to our society. If it takes a heritage
month to do so, so be it.

Tobin shouldn’t employ hot-button catchalls of
anti-wokeism like tribalism, diversity, equity, inclu-
sion, intersectionality and critical race theory, which
seek to divide us instead of allowing us to learn from
one another.

I don’t need Jewish Heritage Month or Jewish
Heritage Night at sports stadiums, but if other Jews
are kvelling in that attention, gay gezinteh hait.

We would live in a better country if all Americans
learned the backgrounds and challenges facing all
other immigrant groups as well as those experienced
by the diverse Native American tribes who were here
to welcome the first European immigrants. ■
Paul L. Newman, Merion Station
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