I know everyone likes to complain about Israeli bureaucracy, and it can really be bad sometimes, but all governments have it. And sometimes the Israelis even get it more right than others and, yes I am going to say something shocking, the Americans can even learn from the Israelis.

When Covid-19 hit globally, the United States basically closed its embassies around the world. They continued to provide some services by mail and at times offered limited numbers of appointments, but most American citizens all around the world have been unable to get the services they required from the embassies and consulates. In Israel the Covid situation was followed by the Gaza situation and just as the embassy was increasing the number of available appointments they shut down again due to the security situation.

Yes and Yes

According to Times of Israel, PA officials, President Abbas and others, have said they will make a number of demands of USA President-elect Joe Biden.

lol

Trump with a hilarious anecdote about how he ducked world leaders calls on the Jerusalem embassy move until the decision was made so he could say "oh I didn't know you felt that way"

— Saagar Enjeti (@esaagar) July 24, 2018

I tell you what, I get more calls of thank you from evangelicals, and I see it in the audiences and everything else, than I do from Jewish people. And the Jewish people appreciate it but the evangelicals appreciate it more than the Jews.

  -- US President Donald Trump, in an interview with Mike Huckabee

I am ashamed, even if just a bit.

lol... seems slightly brash and inappropriate but I like that it will surely upset some people..

The United States Embassy in Jerusalem, Israel is now open, Thank God. I am so honored to have executed the direction and vision of our great President. Like the Ten Commandments, the words on the Embassy are written in stone! pic.twitter.com/YwWtMarJR2

— David M. Friedman (@USAmbIsrael) May 15, 2018

yesterday was such a big day around Israel regarding so many things that it gave so many people so many opportunities to say interesting and provocative things. It was hard to choose a winner, but here is what I picked...


The new embassy is a new settlement outpost, just like the Israeli settlements, and is an assault on our sovereignty, an assault on our established rights

  -- PA President Mahmoud Abbas

in case you haven't seen this yet... it ti s historic event and worth watching, at least parts of.. some great speeches and a moving ceremony, and the Prime Minister, Benjamin Netanyahu, said the bracha of Shehechiyanu...

Bureaucracy is the death of all sound work.

  -- Albert Einstein

A great example of Einstein's thought is in the news right now. Two separate news items that show good things being killed by bureaucracy.

It was recently announced that IKEA will be building a new branch near Eshtaol, just outside Bet Shemesh. Besides for the increased shopping opportunities, this will also provide many jobs for the people in the entire area.

Sure enough, this has hit a snag with Moshav Eshtaol locking up the progress with a lawsuit claiming the first rights to buy the land. You can get all the details of the real estate dispute in the Globes article on the topic.

It was also recently announced that the USA will be moving its embassy from Tel Aviv to Jerusalem on May 14 of this year, as part of the celebrations of Israel's 70th birthday. This is really symbolic as they will be converting the US Consulate in Jerusalem to the embassy while they begin planning construction of a new embassy building. The current embassy building in Tel Aviv will become a consulate.

Israel has been looking forward to such a gesture fr such a long time, and it is finally here, only to be held up and possibly delayed by red tape. As TOI reports

According to the report on the Hadashot TV news outlet, the Americans want to build a three-meter wall around the site and pave a new road from the site, among other changes. However, the site’s current zoning status does not allow for such changes.
Foreign Ministry Director General Yuval Rotem reportedly sent a letter to Finance Minister Moshe Kahlon, warning that if the construction work was not granted an immediate exemption and the red tape wasn’t cut, the planned embassy move on May 14 would be at risk.
“The process of requesting an amendment to the existing outline plan is expected to take a long time, and will not allow completion of the work on the date set for the embassy’s move,” wrote Rotem. “Without these works being completed, the compound will not meet the mandatory requirements of the State Department for the American Embassy.”
Approving the zoning changes requires a meeting of the National Council for Planning and Building. However, the proximity to the Passover festival, which begins on March 30, may make it difficult for the body to convene.

US officials have announced that the US will "move" the embassy from Tel Aviv to Jerusalem in May to coincide with Israel's 70th anniversary celebrations.

This May they will move the embassy by repurposing the current consulate in the Arnona neighborhood of Jerusalem to function as the embassy. The employees of the consulate will become employees of the embassy, and the Ambassador with a small team will work out of this embassy. The current embassy in Tel Aviv will become a consulate though most activities will continue to function out of this location as they have until now. All this will happen while they plan and build a new embassy building in Jerusalem that will be planned to be open and functioning before the end of next year.

And, Israel's Foreign Ministry officials have announced that Israel is in talks with 10 more countries to move their embassies to Jerusalem  as well.

Way to go!

We already know Guatemala has announced it will be moving its embassy to Jerusalem, following the USA's lead. Now Panama and the Honduras have announced they will also be moving their embassies to Jerusalem.
source: NRG

The dominoes are all falling. Some countries will stand strong and refuse to recognize Jerusalem as the capital of Israel, but the tipping point will eventually be reached and they will realize Jerusalem is not what is preventing peace.

Now we just have to wait and see if the USA actually moves their embassy or if it was just lip service...

listening to United States Ambassador o the United Nations Nikki Haley speak prior to the UN vote against the recent US declaration regarding Jerusalem made me think...

When the USA made the declaration recently, a lot of people said it is an empty declaration. Trump won't really move the embassy. If he wanted to, he could just change the sign on the consulate building in Jerusalem to say embassy. Clearly he won't really do anything.

Well, with the events in the UN of the past few days, Trump and Haley are fighting back against the world attack and regularly repeat that they WILL move the embassy and as a sovereign nation it is their right to make that decision.

So, even if Trump was originally not intending to actually move the embassy, and I do not know if he was or was not, at this point he might have been pushed and forced into it. After repeating for days "we WILL move the embassy" and that they now have to fight about it, Trump is clearly going to do it, whatever his original intentions really were.

here is the live broadcast of the vote and speeches: