that is credible on all the issues including on jerusalem, then i suspect that the palestinian position of today might not look the way may not look the way it is then as the way it is now. if i may ask and i was in the region a lot and one of the things that a lot of palestinian i was speaking to was, this decision by president trump really unmasked something they ve known all along that the united states could not or was not an honest broker in the israeli-palestinian conflict. do you think that the united states under this administration, president trump s administration, given all of the personnel involved, jared kushner, david freedman, everyone else, can they be and are they an honest broker between the israelis and the palestinians? the proof will be in the pudding. based on the decision they ve already made what would you say? i would say clearly at this point they ve adopted positions that look like they re much more sympathic to the israelis. i can tell you the expe
they can vote for doug jones is a very real question. still very much in the air heading down into the last 36 hours. we ll see how that plays out in the 36 hours that remain. thank you very much. howard and vivian i m going to ask you to stay with us for a little bit more conversation in the show. i m just back from covering the unrest in the middle east following jerusalem. we ll look at the global backlash and what it means for peace and stability across the nation. the president has tweeted about it and now republicans are picking up on the strategy to undermine the investigation, go after the fbi and robert mueller. the risks of that strategy later this hour.
responded positively that we would like to welcome him and then few days later it was his office senior advisers or the vice president together with representatives of the white house and the state department came to my office early november and we discussed the vice president s program while visiting bethlehem and palestine it was our proposition for him to meet our president and visit the church of nativity but actually have the opportunity to sit and discuss with christian leaders knowing he has christian minorities and communities in the middle east as a top priority for him and we wanted him to hear from the palestinian christians about their wish and the birthplace of jesus that is bem le hem, the wall and the situation in jerusalem as the city of one god and the city for all of the children of god be it jews, muslims, be it christians and we insisted on that meeting and we arrange it and on wednesday vice president pence stands behind president trump as he announced jerusalem as
63% opposed an embassy move by the united states unilaterally to jerusalem as the capital of israel. so is this administration out of touch with the american public when it comes to this issue? i think this administration is focused more on its base and to the extent to which for evangelicals this was an important move. there s no question in my mind that this is one of the reasons that the president made the decision. i will say this, having said that, no one doubts whether jerusalem is going to be at least a part of jerusalem is going to be israel s capital. there s no question about that. even the arab peace initiative which basically offers full diplomatic recognition and relations with the israeli if they withdrew to the june 4th 76 lines, even that by definition means all of west jerusalem would be part of israel. so in a sense what the administration is done is recognized reality. for me what they did from that standpoint was not the wrong
condemnation, including british prime minister theresa may. we continue two-state solution. we recognize the importance of jerusalem and that has not changed. mike pence prepares to head to the region later this month. the tension already evident ahead of his visit, with palestinian president abbas refusing to meet with the american delegation. pence releasing a statement saying, quote it s unfortunate that the palestinian authorities walking away again from an opportunity to discuss the future of the region. which brings us to we said/they said where we take a look at how the international media deals with stories that are making headlines here in the u.s. and from world leaders to voices on the streets, president trump continuing to face global condemnation for recognizing jerusalem as israel s capital. pakistani news outlet broadcast an interview with london mayor who took the opportunity to slam