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‘Like stabbing the Jewish people in the heart’ – protesters oppose consulate for Palestinians in Jerusalem

Dozens of protesters gather outside U.S. Ambassador’s home, express opposition to consulate for Palestinians in Jerusalem.

By World Israel News Staff

Dozens of protesters demonstrated in front of the American Ambassador to Israel’s home in Jerusalem on Wednesday evening, expressing their opposition to the potential opening of an American consulate serving Palestinians in the city.

Kicking off the event, Aryeh Hess, said that “opening an American consulate in this building, or in any other building in Jerusalem, is like thrusting a knife into the heart of the Jewish People.”

Recent remarks on the potential opening of the consulate by former vice president Mike Pence were translated and screened to the crowd in front of the American ambassador’s home.

“The Biden administration is planning to open a consulate in Jerusalem for the Palestinian people; this is an unlawful step and it’s time for Congress to act to deny President Biden from opening a consulate in Jerusalem where the American embassy stands,” Pence said in the clip.

Retired Brigadier General Amir Avivi, founder of HaBithonistim, a defense and security thinktank comprised of former IDF shot callers, addressed the demonstrators.

During his remarks, Avivi quoted Israel’s first prime minister David Ben Gurion, saying, “If the Land has a soul – then, Jerusalem is the soul of the Land of Israel”.

He continued by emphasizing the importance of Israeli sovereignty over the city.

“Jerusalem is the essence of the entire struggle for sovereignty in the Land of Israel and it is not by chance that the attempt to undermine our national rights in the heart of our Land is focused on the battle for the future of Jerusalem,” he said.

“A Palestinian consulate in Jerusalem would mean the long-range return to the reality of the partition plan. Uprooting Jerusalem from Israel and turning it into a city under international sovereignty, the step that the administration wants to promote, would bring about a tsunami of foreign consulates, crushing the roots from which the Jewish People draws its connection to the Land of Israel.”

“Against this threat, Israel’s officers and commanders together with the entire People of Israel, will stand strong. We will not allow this plan to be realized.”

Additional speakers at the event included Jerusalem deputy mayor Chagit Moshe, Jerusalem City Council member Yehuda Froidiger, and Professor Efraim Inbar, president of the Jerusalem Institute for Strategic Studies (JISS).