JERUSALEM – Jerusalem residents were in a jubilant mood on Monday with the opening of the U.S. embassy at its new location in the capital, with people lining the streets cheering on President Donald Trump for following through on his historic promise.
On the other side, pro-Palestinian protesters outside the new embassy chanted slogans bashing Trump and Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu.
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“Donald Trump, God bless that man, he’ll get a trophy with the rest of the great ones,” Shalom Pollack, a tour guide who lives near the embassy in Arnona, said.
“And he’ll be remembered!” he added.
Across the street, a group of pro-Palestinian protesters marched with signs such as “Free Palestine” and “Jerusalem is the capital of Palestine.” They chanted, “Trump and Bibi go to jail, peace and justice will prevail.”
One pro-Trump supporter, sporting a “Make America Great Again” baseball cap, said to the naysayers, “Whoever doesn’t like it can go to hell.”
“It’s nice to finally have a president who stands up to the bad guys and stands up for the good guys,” he added.
A group of visiting Christians from Atlanta, Georgia came out in support of the opening. The group’s head, John, said he “supports Israel just like my country on this historic day.”
Abir Nassee, a Jerusalemite who decked out his entire house with an enormous banner emblazoned with the words “God Bless Donald Trump,” put not too fine a point on it when he claimed there is a new sheriff in town.
“Donald Trump, for me, is the sheriff of the world. He took action and hes going to make a new order of this world,” Nassee said.
“My mother, she walked here as a 12-year-old kid. She walked all the way from Uzbekistan to Jerusalem by foot. Not by Continental airlines and not by Delta. And now, we are back in Jerusalem in the homeland of the Jewish people and its about time that we should have the embassy. I don’t understand the fuss, this should be obvious years ago.”
“I’m happy that after 2,000 years finally someone is taking action,” he added.