Letters: Trump doesn’t get much right, but he did with recognizing Jerusalem

Israeli capital

Re “Trump declares Jerusalem Israeli capital, smashing U.S. policy” (sacbee.com, Dec. 6): As a persistent critic of President Donald Trump, it almost pains me to commend his outstanding speech Wednesday recognizing Jerusalem as the capital of the state of Israel. It was unambiguous, focused, factual and morally accurate. It confirmed the local reality – that West Jerusalem has been the seat of Israeli government since the 1948 creation of the state, with parliament, the Supreme Court and residences of the president and prime minister. At the same time, Trump started the process for relocating the U.S. embassy to West Jerusalem and left open for talks the status of East Jerusalem.

Immediately a chorus of disapproval emerged, arguing Trump’s move will harm the “peace process.” What peace process? The absence of U.S. recognition of Israel’s capital has not brought the Palestinians to the negotiating table. Rather, they remain fixated on refusing to accept Israel as the Jewish state. So kudos to Trump!

San Joaquin sheriff

Re “Hands removed, findings changed: Pathologists say San Joaquin sheriff ‘does whatever he feels like doing’” (sacbee.com, Dec. 5): California government code authorizes the combination of the positions of coroner and sheriff. This combination presents a conflict of interest when a death is caused by law enforcement personnel, as in San Joaquin County. This section of the code should be amended so that the coroner’s office cannot be combined with another county office.

SoCal wildfires

Re “Bel-Air wildfire joins the siege across Southern California” (sacbee.com, Dec. 6): The fires in southern California are yet another reminder about what we can expect if we fail to meet the challenges of climate change. Most people fail to understand the real impacts of Donald Trump’s plans to take America out of the Paris climate agreement. America is the necessary glue to keeping many countries committed to fulfilling their obligations. Yes, elections do matter.

 

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This story was originally published December 7, 2017 at 12:01 PM with the headline "Letters: Trump doesn’t get much right, but he did with recognizing Jerusalem."