The Trump administration's decision to move the U.S. embassy in Israel to Jerusalem was about "pleasing the people who finance the GOP," an MSNBC guest said on Monday.
President Donald Trump recognized Jerusalem as Israel's capital in a historic gesture last December, and the U.S. Embassy in Israel officially opened in Jerusalem on Monday on the 70th anniversary of Israel's independence.
The decision has led to mass protests and violence in the Gaza Strip, and journalist Bobby Ghosh said on MSNBC that the move was not part of any peace process. Any invocation of the word "peace" by Trump, he said, made many Arabs wince.
"To be cloaking this event as if this was some sort of a gesture of peace, and that this was the beginning of some kind of peace as the president was implying, it's unnecessary," Ghosh said. "No one's going to believe it for a moment. This is nothing to do with peace. This is to do with the president fulfilling an election promise and appeasing his base and pleasing the people who finance the GOP."
Referring to the protests, Ghosh said Palestinians were "not going to go quietly, as we've seen."
Ghosh made the remark to MSNBC host Stephanie Ruhle, who had earlier commented on the presence at the embassy opening of Sheldon Adelson, a Jewish billionaire and GOP mega-donor. Last week, Ruhle said Trump left the Iran nuclear deal "maybe to please Sheldon Adelson."