Trump could end this idea by demanding a licensing fee for using his name.
Is the Israeli government actively looking for ways to pour salt in the Jerusalem wound?
On the heels of Donald Trump recognizing Jerusalem as Israel’s capital, a move denounced by the majority of nations on the planet, the country’s transportation minister announced that a train station being built near the Western Wall will be named for Trump. From the Associated Press:
The route will run close to — but not directly under — the Church of the Holy Sepulchre, where tradition holds that Jesus was crucified and buried, and a contested holy site known to Jews as the Temple Mount and to Muslims as the Noble Sanctuary. Previous excavations by Israel near the holy site — the spiritual epicenter of the Israeli-Palestinian conflict — have sparked violent Palestinian protests.
Since the station won’t be completed for a few years and will require careful planning to avoid destroying archaeologically important evidence in the city, it seems entirely possible that the project will get delayed or possibly even found to be unfeasible at some point.
But coming so soon after Trump’s announcement, with the anger from it still roiling America’s relationships with the majority of the world’s nations and the Mideast peace process even more dead than before, this new move is just one more stick in the eye of people who believe Jerusalem’s final status must still be a part of a negotiated settlement between Israelis and Palestinians.
Of course, Trump could kill the entire idea simply by demanding a licensing fee for Israel’s use of his name. Which, knowing Trump, was probably the first thought that crossed his mind.
