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Luzerne County blight plan funding debated

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Man exposes himself to woman at Lackawanna County rest area

<p>WILKES-BARRE &#8212; Local Jewish leaders are supportive of President Donald Trump&#8217;s decision to recognize Jerusalem as the capital of Israel, saying it honors a bipartisan commitment made more than 20 years ago by Congress and President Bill Clinton in the Jerusalem Embassy Act of 1995.</p><p>Attorney David Schwager, chair of the Community Relations Committee of the Wyoming Valley Jewish community, said the U.S. administration&#8217;s announcement of its recognition of Jerusalem as the capital of Israel and its plans to move the embassy of the U.S. from Tel Aviv to Jerusalem is an affirmation of a two-state future negotiated between the parties in which Israelis and Palestinians live side by side, with secure and recognized borders.</p><p>&#8220;We fully support the president&#8217;s brave decision and hope that other countries who are friends of the U.S. will follow suit,&#8221; Schwager said. &#8220;Israel is a democracy, and the U.S.&#8217;s closest ally in the region. To not recognize Jerusalem as its capital has long been an awkward situation.&#8221;</p><p>According to an Associated Press story, the U.S. on Monday vetoed a resolution supported by the 14 other U.N. Security Council members that would have required Trump to rescind his declaration of Jerusalem as the capital of Israel &#8212; a vote that showed the depth of global opposition to the U.S. move.</p><p>The U.S. was certain to veto the Egyptian-drafted resolution, but its Arab supporters wanted the vote to demonstrate that countries everywhere &#8212; and even many U.S. allies such as Britain, France and Japan &#8212; are against Trump&#8217;s action.</p><p>U.S. Ambassador Nikki Haley called the resolution &#8220;an insult&#8221; that won&#8217;t be forgotten, saying the United Nations forced the U.S. to cast a veto simply because of its right to decide where to put its embassy, the AP reported.</p><p>The resolution that was vetoed would have called on &#8220;all states to refrain from the establishment of diplomatic missions in the holy city of Jerusalem,&#8221; citing a 1980 council resolution.</p><p>Dr. Matthew Berger, a psychiatrist in private practice in Scranton, said like any country, Israel has the right to declare its own capital, and it has chosen Jerusalem.</p><p>&#8220;Jerusalem always was the capital of Israel, and it always will be,&#8221; Berger said. &#8220;This has been the hope and dream of a lot of Jews for generations.&#8221;</p><p>Berger&#8217;s father, Stephen, was a Holocaust survivor. Only one other member of Berger&#8217;s family survived the Holocaust.</p><p>&#8220;All the others were killed in the Holocaust,&#8221; Berger said.</p><p>Berger said Jerusalem has always been the religious, historical and philosophical center of Israel.</p><p>&#8220;This legitimizes and puts to rest any question that Israel is a country that will last forever,&#8221; Berger said.</p><p>Schwager offered some historical background:</p><p>&#8226; In 1010 b.c., King David established Jerusalem as the capital of Israel and the Jewish Temple was built in Jerusalem by King Solomon in 957 b.c. Jerusalem has been the only capital of the Jewish people.</p><p>&#8226; From 1948 until June 4, 1967, Jews were forbidden from praying at the Western Wall (the remnants of the Jewish Temple), Judaism&#8217;s holiest site.</p><p>&#8226; They were forbidden to attend classes at the Hebrew University at Mt. Scopus, which had been opened in 1925 and was supported by Albert Einstein.</p><p>&#8226; Jews could not seek medical care at the Hadassah Hospital on Mt. Scopus, which had treated Jews and Arabs alike since 1918.</p><p>&#8226; Jews could not live in the Jewish Quarter of Jerusalem, where their forbears had built homes and synagogues for thousands of years.</p><p>&#8226; When Israel retook these areas in a defensive war that Jordan started by shelling civilian homes in West Jerusalem, and opened them up as places where Jews could pray, study, receive medical treatment and live, the U.S. took the official position that it would not recognize Israel&#8217;s claims to Jewish Jerusalem.</p><p>&#8226; The U.S. stated that the status of Jerusalem, including these newly liberated areas, would be left open to final negotiations and that the status quo would remain in place.</p><p>&#8226; That is the official rationale for why the U.S. refused to recognize any part of Jerusalem, including West Jerusalem, as part of Israel. That is why the U.S. refused to allow an American citizen born in any part of Jerusalem to put the words &#8220;Jerusalem, Israel&#8221; on his or her passport as their place of birth.</p><p>&#8220;Treat Israel like other nations,&#8221; Schwager said. &#8220;Their government operations are mostly in Jerusalem. Jerusalem is where the Israeli parliament (the Knesset) sits; it is where the prime minister&#8217;s office is, where the president resides.&#8221;</p><p>Schwager said in past presidential campaigns, Bill Clinton, George W. Bush and Barack Obama all made commitments to move the embassy and recognize Jerusalem as Israel&#8217;s capital. But none followed through on the promises made.</p><p>&#8220;Trump finally did it,&#8221; Berger said. &#8220;I really don&#8217;t understand why this is such a big deal &#8212; any country has the right to choose its own capital and our embassy should be in the capital.&#8221;</p><p>In a video posted to Facebook Monday, Israel&#8217;s President Benjamin Netanyahu says U.S. Ambassador to the U.N. Nikky Haley &#8220;lit a candle of truth&#8221; and dispelled &#8220;lies.&#8221; He is comparing Haley to the Maccabees, Jewish warriors commemorated during the current Jewish holiday of Hannukkah for revolting against Hellenic rulers, rededicating the Jewish Temple in Jerusalem and establishing a Jewish Kingdom in Judea.</p><p>In Netanyahu&#8217;s words, &#8220;One defeated the many, truth defeated lies.&#8221;</p><p>Jerusalem is one of the most sensitive issues in the Israeli-Palestinian conflict. Israel considers the city its eternal capital. The Palestinians want the eastern sector as capital of their hoped-for state.</p><p>The AP story said the vetoed resolution would have demanded that all countries comply with 10 resolutions on Jerusalem, dating back to 1967, including requirements that the city&#8217;s final status be decided in direct negotiations between Israel and the Palestinians. It would also have affirmed that &#8220;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.&#8221;</p><p>Trump shattered decades of unwavering U.S. neutrality on Jerusalem on Dec. 6 when he declared that the U.S. recognizes the divided holy city as Israel&#8217;s capital and will move its embassy there. Trump insisted that after repeated peace failures it was past time for a new approach, saying his decision was merely based on reality.</p><p>The status of Jerusalem has been a central issue in the decades-long Israeli-Palestinian conflict, and Trump&#8217;s announcement was widely perceived as taking the side of Israel.</p><style>
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<div class="neFile"><img class="neImage" src="https://www.timesleader.com/wp-content/uploads/2017/12/web1_Schwager.jpg">
<div class="neCaption">Schwager </div></div><div class="metaInfo"><photo0>https://www.timesleader.com/wp-content/uploads/2017/12/web1_Schwager.jpg</photo0><caption0>Schwager </caption0><photoCredit0></photoCredit0></div><div class="neFile"><img class="neImage" src="https://www.timesleader.com/wp-content/uploads/2017/12/web1_Dr.-Matthew-Berger.jpg">
<div class="neCaption">Berger </div></div><div class="metaInfo"><photo1>https://www.timesleader.com/wp-content/uploads/2017/12/web1_Dr.-Matthew-Berger.jpg</photo1><caption1>Berger </caption1><photoCredit1></photoCredit1></div><div class="neFile"><img class="neImage" src="https://www.timesleader.com/wp-content/uploads/2017/12/web1_119429173-2cb6d6569e8641aa984e7cfa42de1637.jpg">
<div class="neCaption">Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu attends the weekly cabinet meeting at his office in Jerusalem, Israel, Sunday Dec. 17. </div></div><div class="metaInfo"><photo2>https://www.timesleader.com/wp-content/uploads/2017/12/web1_119429173-2cb6d6569e8641aa984e7cfa42de1637.jpg</photo2><caption2>Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu attends the weekly cabinet meeting at his office in Jerusalem, Israel, Sunday Dec. 17. </caption2><photoCredit2>Abir Sultan | Pool via AP </photoCredit2></div></div>
<div class="metaInfo"><bylineMeta><p>By Bill O&#8217;Boyle</p><p>boboyle@www.timesleader.com</p></bylineMeta></div><div class="metaInfo"><shirttailMeta><p>Reach Bill O&#8217;Boyle at 570-991-6118 or on Twitter @TLBillOBoyle.</p></shirttailMeta></div>

Jewish community supportive of Trump’s ‘brave decision’