The Trump administration’s recent announcement that it will quickly move the U.S. Embassy to the Holy City in May was not only applauded by Israel, but made easier, as the only democracy in the Middle East simply cut through the red tape to make it happen.

“I am thankful for the privilege of being the finance minister and the head of the National Council for Planning and Building who will oversee the relocation of the American Embassy in Israel from Tel Aviv to Jerusalem,” Israeli Finance Minister Moshe Kahlon announced, according to Breaking Israel News.

Embracing the embassy

Complications and likely delays were anticipated ahead of the move – especially with all of the procedural permissions needed to move forward with such a project.

“There had been concerns about the need for a three-meter wall around the existing U.S. Consulate General site in south Jerusalem,” WND reported. “The site’s current zoning wouldn’t have allowed changes, leading Foreign Ministry Director General Yuval Rotem to suggest the opening – now set for May 14, Israel’s 70th anniversary on the Gregorian calendar – could be delayed.”

Other time-laden obstacles were also feared.

“Kahlon’s decision followed a report Tuesday [by] the Hebrew-language Hadashot TV news channel that the embassy move could be delayed due to red-tape surrounding State Department plans to shore up the existing U.S. Consulate General site in south Jerusalem site ahead of the move,” Breaking Israel News announced. “Construction plans reportedly include … construction of a new road to the site.”

But Kahlon quickly made the usual requirements disappear in order to make the move happen in a little more than a month by ordering that the permissions be waived.

“See you all in May,” the finance minister told the national planning board after sidestepping the upgrade requirements, according to WND.

Muslim world enraged

Voicing the outrage of Muslims across the globe following the U.S. State Department’s recent announcement that the U.S. Embassy move would take place on May 14, the Palestinian Authority’s (PA) Grand Mufti issued a warning that Muslims around with world will retaliate as if it were an act of war.

“He [the Mufti] explained that the transfer of the American embassy to Jerusalem, if it is carried out, will not be an attack on the Palestinians alone, but rather a blatant attack on the Arabs and Muslims throughout the world, …and that it will not serve peace and security in the region, but rather bring upon it disasters of wars, anarchy and instability,” the official PA daily, Al-Hayat Al-Jadida reported on Feb. 26, according to Palestinian Media Watch. “He further implicitly encouraged Palestinians and Muslims to use violence and seek Martyrdom.”

A call to wage attacks within Israel’s borders was then declared by the Islamic Palestinian leader, Sheik Muhammad Hussein, who was also described by the Arab paper as the “preacher at the blessed Al-Aqsa Mosque.”

“[Hussein] warned against the severity of the American administration’s decision on transferring its embassy to occupied Jerusalem,” the PA paper added. “[He] added that the residents of Jerusalem and all of the Palestinians, Arabs and Muslims will not submit to this blatant attack, and will sacrifice all that is dear to them in order to confront the American stubbornness.”

No longer putting off what previous presidents postponed …

Even though all the preparations to acknowledge the City of David as the official capital of Israel were made decades ago, Trump is the first commander-in-chief to move forward with the plan that former presidents Bill Clinton, George W. Bush and Barack Obama simply pushed off to the side of their desk while in the Oval Office.

“Trump, on Dec. 6, formally recognized Jerusalem as Israel’s capital after three previous administrations had signed waivers every six months delaying enactment of a law passed by Congress,” WND recounted.

The significance of expediting the U.S. Embassy’s official transfer to make it happen this spring has to do with a historic date to all Israelis – when the Jewish people saw the reestablishment of Israel and were finally able to return home after being dispersed around the world without a homeland for 2,000 years.

“Later, the State Department announced the new U.S. Embassy in Jerusalem will open May 14, 2018 – the 70th anniversary of Israel’s declaration of independence in 1948,” the WND report noted.