The four Republican senators who attended the U.S. Embassy opening ceremony in Israel Monday said President Trump is the reason the move happened.
“This was a big day. This was an important day,” said Sen. Mike Lee of Utah said on Fox News.
Sens. Lindsey Graham, Ted Cruz and Dean Heller were the other lawmakers who attended the event.
Mr. Graham said he had been waiting a long time to see this move.
“I voted for this in 1995 when I was a freshman member of Congress. Thank you, President Trump,” he said. “There’s no nation on earth that provides us with better intelligence on radical Islam than Israel. There’s nobody that tells us more about Iran than Israel.”
The day was marked with violence, however, as Palestinian protesters on the Gaza border condemned the move on the 70th anniversary of the establishment of Israel.
“The violence that we’ve seen in response to what happened today, it’s sad. This is simply recognizing an undeniable truth,” Mr. Cruz said.
He added that until the Palestinians accept Israel’s existence and the importance of Jerusalem as the capital, it is unlikely there will be lasting peace.
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