Reality check: Turkey is not a US ally

On December 25, millions of Christians in countries whose leaders voted against the United States' recognition of Jerusalem as Israel's capital, as well as Pope Francis, who joined in the condemnation, will be celebrating the birth of Jesus in Bethlehem, in the Holy Land of Israel. We wish them and our readers a Merry Christmas! Growing numbers of Christian-majority countries seem too willing to rewrite history by adopting the newly invented Palestinian state's lies, which include the denial of more than two millennia of Jewish presence in the Holy Land, even claiming that Jesus was not a Jew, but a Palestinian, and a Muslim!

The Christian identity of Europe has been eroded not only by growing secularism, but also by the threat of Islamist terrorism. And it all started with the Palestinians who from the beginning were in the business of extorting concessions from the West. They did it again on Thursday. Only this time, they didn't even have to hijack passenger planes of any of the 128 countries that voted against the U.S. at the General Assembly. By now, most of the 128 countries that endorsed the Palestinians condemnation of President Donald Trump's decision to move the U.S. embassy to Jerusalem have learned to dread violence committed by the growing numbers of radicalized second-generation Muslims and refugees who often cite Palestinian lies – about Jerusalem, Israel, and the Jews – as a motive for terrorists' attacks. Besides, their leaders oppose U.S. president Donald Trump and are mostly anti-Israeli. Then there is the financial motive. How can they justify spending billions of dollars on aid to the terrorists in Gaza and the West Bank? Moreover, they are greedy. They would rather do business with the mullahs in Iran, Turkey's Muslim brother President Erdoğan, Qatar, and other Islamist entities. The General Assembly's condemnation of the U.S. for declaring the relocation of its Israel embassy to Jerusalem, the capital, came after several resolutions passed earlier by the anti-Israel, pro-Palestinian U.N. purportedly cultural body, UNESCO. Last May, as Israel was celebrating its 69th Independence Day, 22 of the 58 member-countries in UNESCO passed a resolution denying the Jewish State of Israel's legal and historical rights anywhere in Jerusalem or at any other Jewish holy sites that have repeatedly been documented for more than 2,000 years as belonging to the Israelites. Twenty-three countries that lacked the courage to openly resist the Palestinian-led Arab-Muslim initiative abstained. Most of the ten countries that opposed UNESCO's deplorable resolution lacked the courage to oppose the General Assembly's resolution. Why? The emergency session of the General Assembly was initiated by Turkey, which was joined by Yemen as representatives of the Arab countries and the Organization of Islamic Cooperation (OIC). This was an opportunity that Erdoğan, who aspires to become the sultan of a reconquered Ottoman Empire, could not miss. And on his official Facebook page, he posted a caricature showing him wearing a Tarbush, with prayer beads in one hand and the other hitting Trump, who is bleeding, unable to respond. Erdoğan's message is not only a boast that he can beat the U.S., but also a call for Muslims to do the same. Erdoğan's support of the Palestinians and especially of the Muslim Brotherhood's terrorist group Hamas (which recently removed any mention of this association from its website) is nothing new. Nor is his closeness to Iran and Qatar and criticism of the latest Saudi reforms and alleged rapprochement with Israel. His anti-U.S. vote initiative at the General Assembly and his Facebook posting are aimed to encourage the Sunni Muslim world to view him as their new leader. It is time to finally recognize that Erdoğan's Turkey is no longer a U.S. ally. The U.S. should remove the 50-90 nuclear weapons it keeps as NATO's deterrence force in the Incirlik base in Turkey.