The Obama Administration apparently crossed a red line when Israeli Ambassador Michael Oren was summoned to the US State Department over the weekend and was told that the Obama administration demanded that Israel put an end to construction work at the site of the historic Shepherd's Hotel in east Jerusalem.
Israeli Prime Minister Benyamin Netanyahu rejected this smarmy attempt at coercion out of hand:
"What does [US President Barack Obama] think to himself? That after I built 20,000 homes in Jerusalem during my last term I'm going to stop the building of 20 more?" Prime Minister Binyamin Netanyahu reportedly said Sunday in closed conversations, according to Channels 10 and 2.
Earlier, during Sunday's cabinet meeting, Netanyahu remarks took a much softer tone, but the gist of his statement was similar. "Jerusalem is the "unified capital of Israel and the capital of the Jewish people, and sovereignty over it is indisputable," he said.
Hundreds of apartments in the west of the city were purchased by Arabs and we didn't get involved. There is no prohibition against Arab residents buying apartments in the west of the city and there is no prohibition barring the city's Jewish residents from buying or building in the east of the city," Netanyahu added. "That is the policy of an open city that is not divided."
"We cannot accept the notion that Jews will not have the right to buy apartments specifically in Jerusalem. I can only imagine what would happen if they were forbidden from purchasing apartments in New York or London; there would be an international outcry. This has always been Israel's policy and this is the policy of the current government," the prime minister continued.
Later Sunday, US Secretary of State Hillary Rodham Clinton said that the administration was trying to reach an agreement with Israel on settlements.
"The negotiations are intense. They are ongoing," she said in New Delhi.
You summon the Ambassador of a foreign government to the State Department to inform him that his government may not build housing in its own sovereign capital and that's referred to as 'negotiations'?
The site itself is interesting. It was originally given by the British to Nazi sympathizer Grand Mufti Haj Amin al-Husseini, who spent WWII recruiting European Muslims in Bosnia to fight for the Nazis, translating Mein Kampf into Arabic and planning a concentration camp with the Nazis for Palestine's Jews near Nablus.
The Husseini clan then sold it to Jewish businessman Irv Moskowitz in the 1980's, and the site was recently rented the site to the Jerusalem border police as a base.
The municipality of Jerusalem subsequently approved the small housing development..after which Palestinian capo del Ramallah Mahmoud Abbas made a formal protest.
Even more interesting is that anyone, Jew, Druse, Christian or Muslim can buy the proposed apartments. The Israeli High Court ruled some time ago that anyone can legally buy property anywhere in Jerusalem.
Meanwhile the Obama Administration is not saying a word about the massive amount of illegal construction performed by the Arabs all over Judea and Samaria. They're specifically targeting Jews...and yes, there's a word for that. And it's not 'negotiations'.
Israeli Foreign Minister Avigdor Lieberman weighed in on this topic as well, an dbeing whom he is, was a bit more blunt than Netanyahu:
Foreign Minister Avigdor Lieberman said the US demand was "odd."
"Thousands of Arab families build houses in Jerusalem, in the neighborhoods of Neve Yaakov and French Hill, and I've never heard any comment on the matter from the United States or Europe," Lieberman said. "I'm trying to put this delicately: It would be very strange if Jews were discriminated against in Jerusalem of all places, especially in light of the fact that it is not an isolated site; this is the heart of the city, very close to the Government Compound and Israel Police Headquarters."
Diaspora Affairs Minister Yuli Edelstein said, "A demand to cease construction in a neighborhood situated only several meters from the Hebrew University proves how dangerous it is to be dragged into a debate on settlement freeze, which will lead us to a total demand to freeze our normal lives throughout the entire State of Israel."
Of course, it's not odd at all if you look at who Obama is and who his associates are.
One thing the Obama Administration has done with it's anti-Israel policies that it probably didn't intend is to unite the Israeli public behind Netanyahu. According to most polls, Israeli approval of Obama is around the 6% mark and over 80% of Israelis approve of Netanyahu's handling of the Obama Administration's demands thus far.
Jews in America may very well be a different story. But in the very near future, those who haven't already woken up will have to make a choice between supporting Israel's right to live in freedom and dignity or being loyal adherents of the Obama Administration. They won't be able to do both.
5 comments:
I don't think Israel is taking too kindly to Obama telling them they can't build on their own land.
Imagine if the United States tried to be this heavy handed with ANY other nation on earth. It and its government would be lambasted in the world media for its "imperialist" policies.
In any event, there is very little the United States can actually do to Israel right now. The American economy is deeply struggling and getting worse, the American military is worn down from continuing operations in the "War on Terror", and its budget deficit is massive and getting larger.
This makes it all but impossible for the United States to ivest in the upgrades to its military or its infrastructure that will be needed to remain competitive with the world's major powers. For all intents and purposes the United States is done as a major world power. Its government needs to wake up to this reality.
The United States government should stay out of Israel's affairs and focus on its own serious problems. If the United States refuses, perhaps the Israelis should teach the Americans a lesson in manners.
those who haven't already woken up will have to make a choice
as ff states, the numbers are different in the US.
this is one area where i dis-agree with ff.
i do not believe they will wake up.
i think they have made their choice/bed.
and these machers who do hussein's bidding i hope find a special place in hell.
for the record, the 6%/80% numbers should be hussein's numbers in the country formerly known as the united states of america.
Avigdor Lieberman is not very blunt, imo, and is a too soft on the palestinian issue.
Hi Louie,
As I'll point out in an upcoming piece, this behavior by Democrat affliated Jews is by no means new.
But we'll see.My mother is a fairly prominent Dem activist in her corner of California, and a regualr delegate to the State Convention. She loved the idea of voting for the first black president and of course touted BO from the very beginning and voted for him, in spite of everything I told her.
But she's also unabashedly pro-Israel. In view of recent events, I asked if she agreed with Obama on Israel and received a fierce, and visibly angry "no!"
As I told her,'Mom, you don't have to say you were wrong, but it's OK to admit you were lied to."
To which she nodded.
I have a feeling at least a portion of America's Jews are waking up to that reality. In any event they will all have to eventually make the choice between being Obama loyalists and being pro-Israel.
In the end, that will be a good thing, I think.
Regards,
Rob
Is there any city or town in the democratic world in which Arabs are forbidden to settle and build?
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