The United States recently announced that its embassy in Israel will move from Tel Aviv to Jerusalem in May, coinciding with the 70th anniversary of the foundation of the modern state of Israel. It is now known that this will take place next week, on Monday 14 May 2018.
There has been widespread criticism of this move, especially from Muslims. It should be noted that Ramadan starts this year on 16 May, which often sees heightened tensions and violence against non-Muslim minorities.
A number of previous triggers have generated significant Islamist violence against others around the world, especially against Christians and Christian buildings. Christians in Africa, the Middle East and Asia have often paid the price. In the current U.S. Embassy context, it is instructive to look at what happened after, for example, Salman Rushdie’s publication of The Satanic Verses novel, the publication of satirical cartoons in the Danish newspaper Jyllands-Posten , American military involvement in various Muslim-majority countries, the Charlie Hebdo publication of cartoons of Muhammad, and the trailer of the movie Innocence of Muslims .
