Security teams were busily deploying throughout Jerusalem and the surrounding areas Friday in preparation to confront a “day of rage” announced by Palestinian factions following Wednesday’s announcement by US President Donald Trump that the US officially recognizes the city as Israel’s capital. Violent clashes between protesters and Israeli forces already occurred in several cities in the West Bank and in eastern Jerusalem Thursday evening, while three rockets were fired at Israel from the Hamas ruled Gaza Strip.

European Union foreign policy chief Federica Mogherini declared on Thursday that Wednesday’s announcement by US President Donald Trump that the US recognizes Jerusalem as Israel’s capital “has the potential to send us backward to even darker times than the ones we are already living in” adding that the EU “has a clear and united position: we believe that the only realistic solution to the conflict between Israel and Palestine is based on two States, and with Jerusalem as the capital of both the State of Israel and the State of Palestine.”

Hassan Nasrallah, leader of the Lebanese Shi’ite terror militia Hezbollah, gave a televised address from a bunker in an undisclosed location Thursday evening urging Palestinians to embark on an armed uprising or “intifada” against Israel following Wednesday’s announcement of the recognition of Jerusalem as Israel’s capital by US President Donald Trump. The Al-Qaida terrorist organization issued a similar statement.

Medical research conducted at the Weizmann Institute of Science in Rehovot , Israel, has produced findings that could soon lead to new treatments for malaria, a disease that is estimated to kill more than 500,000 people annually. “We’ve discovered a subversive strategy the malaria parasite employs in order to thrive in human blood,” Dr. Neta Regev-Rudzki of Weizmann’s biomolecular sciences department explained. “By interfering with this subversion of the immune system, it may be possible in the future to develop ways of blocking malarial infection.” The findings were recently published in the prestigious journal Nature Communications.

President Trump’s decision to recognize Jerusalem as Israel’s capital is a perfect response to President Obama’s decision to change American policy by engineering the UN Security Council resolution declaring Judaism’s holiest places in Jerusalem to be occupied territory, handing the Palestinians enormous leverage in future negotiations and disincentivizing them from making a compromised peace.

His All Holiness Bartholomew I, Ecumenical Patriarch of Constantinople, recently received an honorary doctorate from the Hebrew University in Jerusalem. During his acceptance speech, he represented himself as being a spokesperson for the mainstream of Christian communities throughout the Middle East and the world, addressing a wide range of topics.