We all know what the Obama administration thinks about illegal settlements in the West Bank. There’s no greater crime than building new settlements in “The Territories”.
Unless they’re illegal Arab settlements. That’s a different matter — those must be protected at all costs. Dismantling them would be a grave crime against humanity and a violation of international law and etc blah yak.
Many thanks to JLH for translating this article from Politically Incorrect:
US Threatens Israel With “Harsh Response” if Illegal Arab Settlement is Destroyed
August 25, 2016
Israeli Defense Minister Avigdor Lieberman (photo inset) will probably present his ministry’s formal reply before the Supreme Court. This is the reaction to the proposal of the leftist NGO “Rabbis for Human Rights,” which demands an end to the demolition of an illegal Arab settlement. A series of buildings of the illegal settlement (photo) near the Jewish village Sussiya in the vicinity of Hebron is slated for demolition.
It was reported Wednesday that high-ranking US officials have put heavy pressure on the Israeli government, not to execute the demolition order. The report indicates that the officials have threatened an extremely serious American reaction if the demolition occurs.
Tuesday, despite the warnings, forces of the civil administration destroyed a number of illegal structures in the neighboring city of Umm el-Keir, which had been built along the security fence of Carmel. Some of these buildings had been built with the support of the European Union.
In addition to the USA, the EU and the UK have joined the effort to prevent the destruction of the illegal Arab settlement near Sussiya.
In 2013 a court decreed that Arab construction at that location be halted. This happened pursuant to a proposal of the NGO organization, Regavim, an NGO which monitors illegal Arab construction throughout Israel. A year later, the court issued the demolition order for buildings already constructed at the location. In 2015, the supreme court rejected a petition for temporary suspension of the demolition order and gave a green light for its execution by civil authority.
On Wednesday, Regavim published a statement which disregarded the threats of the American officials and called for the Israeli Defense Ministry to issue the orders for execution of the act. “We call on Defense Minister Avigdor Liberman to ignore the inappropriate foreign meddling in domestic Israeli affairs, which belittle the government of Israel and the Israeli justice system. These are idle threats, provoked by radical, leftist organizations who do not respect the laws and repeatedly abuse the legal process of the supreme court.”
“The report indicates that the officials have threatened an extremely serious American reaction if the demolition occurs.”
Well, if it means that JFK Kerry (JFK=Just For Kerry) will deliver a lecture, that would be extreme.
“Oh, no, not that!”
If they want to be really, really serious, they’ll include some miscellaneous interview conducted by Howard Cosell.
Sykes-Picto, a gift that keeps on giving, @statedept is Wrong unless the Ottoman Empire built them, legacy dwellings…who is right? Mr. Sec of State? AKA MR FRIGIDAIRE !
It’s really so nice to see nationalist Germans defending Israel like this, having realised that their fight is the same one. This really brings me a lot of happiness.
Long live Israel and Long live Germany both!
The truly scary thing is, 10 years ago, I’d have said that Israel has much more serious existential threats than Germany. Nowadays, if I had to pick a 30 year German or Israeli bond, I’d be giving some serious thought about which one is most likely to be repaid and I wouldn’t automatically pick the German one. Even 5 years ago, I would have considered such doubt to be a sign of madness or extreme zionism, but nowadays, I would consider it rational.
142 days and Obama/Clinton/Jarrett/Kerry and company will be gone. Trump will crush Hillary and the nightmare will end for the present. That is assuming Trump is not lying and continues his bully pulpit as well as twists arms of the RINO’s until they break. We’ll see.
Actually, it’s not just Rabbis for the Far Left that is a Jewish voice opposing the lawful demolition of Sussya. The Union for Reform Judaism (URJ) and its president are also getting into the fight.
https://www.urj.org/blog/2016/08/11/urj-president-israel-protect-village-susya
It’s always amazing to me to see the President of the United States and the US Secretary of State engage in ward-level politics in Israel.
The real question for me is, what motivates so many governments and so many officials to jump on Israel for a perfectly legal decision? This includes the Union for Reform Judaism which, although Jewish, closely identifies with the far left.
Two replies spring to mind: antiSemitism and globalism. The globalists hate Israel passionately. Israel symbolizes a strong nationalistic country, ready to defend its borders and its national character with force. Israel pioneered “the wall”, a use of high technology and old-fashioned concrete, barbed wire, mines and armed border guards to protect its security. The concept of a successful nation conscious of its own identity, ruled by law, and not in thrall to the globalist, international totalitarian prototype governments like the EU and the UN, drives globalists nuts.
There’s also a fair amount of virtue-signalling. The cultural Marxists use Israel-bashing as a token of their mutual identity. This explains the stance of leftist, but Jewish, organizations such as the Union for Reform Judaism.
Unfortunately, Israel is dependent on the US in many ways, especially massive foreign aid payments and diplomatic protection. The fact is, the UN and EU would declare binding sanctions against Israel in a split second except for the opposition of the US. The sanctions would have the firm support of supposedly democratic and free countries such as England, France, Sweden, Belgium, etc. International sanctions are a real threat: they were responsible for the collapse of the South African government. The United States is pretty much indispensable to Israel in this regard.
US foreign aid to Israel is a different story. Israel is a modern economy, and should be responsible for its own support. They have a very large segment of orthodox Jews who do not work and do not serve in the army, but who receive benefits. It should not be the business of other countries how a country runs its own affairs, but Israel should make its own decisions with its own resources. Further, it’s obvious that Jewish influence is hugely responsible for maintaining the payments to Israel. This is very dangerous for Israel. As soon as the Jewish groups like the URJ decide their cultural Marxism overrides their Jewish commitment to Israel, they’ll throw Israel under the bus (my opinion). It’s much better for Israel to bite the bullet and develop relationships with other countries like the US based on mutual self-interest.
Excellent perspective. Ronald.
I have a feeling that if the US actually carries out this threat, the “harsh response” will result in fewer votes for Hillary. The harsher the response, the better the chance of electing Trump.