A speech US President Donald Trump is scheduled to give on Wednesday in which he is expected to announce that the US officially recognizes Jerusalem as the capital of Israel has drawn praise from many Christian and Jewish leaders in the US and Israel but also dire warnings from various governments, NGOs, terrorist organizations and even officials within the Trump Administration in Washington.

Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu signed an agreement Monday with the US Agency for International Development (USAID) which will give Israel opportunities to share its knowledge and technical skills in a variety of areas with African nations, potentially improving the lives of millions of people. “I believe in Africa,” Netanyahu said at the press conference. “I believe in the partnership with Africa. And what better partnership we have, than having USAID, the US government, Israel, and African countries working together to secure a better future.”

French foreign minister Jean-Yves Le Drian told journalists at a joint press conference with his German counterpart, Sigmar Gabriel, on Monday evening that France and Germany agree that Iran must “roll back” its ballistic-missile program and its “hegemonic temptations” across the Middle East if it wishes to reap the full economic benefits of normalized relations with the West. He added that Paris and Berlin would continue to stand by the 2015 JCPOA nuclear agreement, but that Teheran also needed to take the concerns of its neighbors and the international community seriously.

Prof. Jacob Pe’er, an ophthalmologist at Jerusalem’s Hadassah University Medical Center has been honored by the American Academy of Ophthalmology (OCA) for his work on the prevention of blindness which has saved or improved the site of countless people around the world over the decades. The award will be presented at the OCA’s upcoming annual conference.

The latest defeats for the international movement to Boycott, Divest and Sanction (BDS) Israel came in the form of visits to the Jewish State this week by legendary vocal artist Bryan Adams and Florida Governor Rick Scott, who was accompanied by a large delegation of Floridian business leaders looking for opportunities to make deals with their Israeli counterparts. Adams began his tour of Israel Monday with a sold out concert in Tel Aviv, while fans in Jerusalem looked forward to seeing him at the Pais Arena on Wednesday.

Jerusalem has been the official capital of the State of Israel and center of its government since 1950. Jerusalem is the seat of Israel’s President, Knesset, and Supreme Court, and the site of most government ministries and social and cultural institutions. Jerusalem is the ancient spiritual center of Judaism and is also considered a holy city by the members of other religious faiths. Israel protects all faith’s holy sites.

We understand the significance of Jerusalem to the Jewish people because we read about it every day in our Bible.  We share in that history because the New Testament says we have been grafted into the people of faith who lived out that history.  Their national history has become our spiritual history.