John Hudson reports on a letter from many House Republicans urging Trump to move the U.S. embassy in Israel to Jerusalem. This section of the letter was remarkably clueless:

Moving the embassy will strengthen the unique alliance between Israel and the United States and send a clear message to the world that we support Israel in recognizing Jerusalem as its eternal capital. This action is all the more urgent in light of the anti-Israel Resolution 2334, adopted by the United Nations Security Council on December 23, 2016. The resolution invites renewed diplomatic hostility and economic warfare against Israel, and we must act urgently to mitigate its consequences and to reaffirm our steadfast commitment to Israel.

If UNSCR 2334 is undesirable because it supposedly “invites renewed diplomatic hostility and economic warfare against Israel,” how much more irresponsible would it be to move the embassy to Jerusalem and set off an even more intense wave of diplomatic hostility and possibly cause a surge of violence directed against both Americans and Israelis? Moving the embassy would undoubtedly “send a clear message to the world,” and that message is that the U.S. is abandoning any pretense that it wants a peaceful settlement of the conflict there. The U.S. would pay a substantial price in its relations with many other states, and Israel’s relations with all of its neighbors would deteriorate and further contribute to the country’s international isolation. While hard-liners in both countries might not care about any of that, relocating the embassy would be a cause of much grief for both governments for years to come and would gain them nothing. It doesn’t make any sense, and it confirms that “pro-Israel” hawks are no good for the U.S. or Israel.