Since the killing of Yitzhak Rabin 22 years ago, at a moment when peace was within reach, the ethno-nationalist Israeli religious ideologues that believe all the land between the Jordan River and the Mediterranean Sea was deeded to Israel in the Bible (and never mind who lives there now) have gotten the upper hand, with Netanyahu’s complicity. This was a successful assassination.

These are the facts. Trump’s statement will not change them. It was directed largely at a domestic audience of evangelicals and major American Jewish groups. This, he said, was “a long overdue step to advance the peace process.” That’s nonsense. Sigh.