‘New fuse for an old powder keg’: Russian MPs warn of dangers caused by Trump’s Jerusalem decision

“Trump’s decision to recognize Jerusalem as the Israeli capital and the plan to relocate the US embassy [in Israel] to this city is a continuation of a string of provocations in American foreign policy, which we are continuously witnessing in relation to Syria, Iran and North Korea, among others,” said Leonid Slutsky, head of the State Duma Committee for International Relations, RIA Novosti reported on Thursday.

The lawmaker also noted in his comments that Trump’s move could potentially “explode the situation in the zone of the Israeli-Palestinian conflict.”

Head of the Upper House Committee for Information Policy, Senator Aleksey Pushkov, wrote on Twitter that the US president’s decision was a global shock with potentially dire consequences. “The whole world except for Israel is in a state of shock because of Trump’s decision. He has brought a new fuse to the old powder keg. I am confident that this is not the last shock,” he said.

On Wednesday, US President Donald Trump signed a declaration officially recognizing Jerusalem as the capital of Israel, and announced the plans to relocate the American embassy from Tel Aviv to the city. «Today, we finally acknowledge the obvious — that Jerusalem is Israel’s capital. This is nothing more or less than a recognition of reality,» Trump said.

«Israel is a sovereign nation with a right like every other sovereign nation to determine its own capital. Acknowledging this as a fact is a necessary condition for achieving peace,” continued the US president, who called Israel “one of the most successful democracies in the world.»