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Post by Daniel on Jan 29, 2016 10:23:34 GMT -5
US to Begin Enforcing Labeling of West Bank Products
By Adam Eliyahu Berkowitz January 29, 2016
“Better is the poor that walketh in his integrity than he that is perverse in his lips and a fool at the same time.” (Proverbs 19:1)
After months of heated debate over the European Union (EU) labeling products made in Judea and Samaria, the US is now doing the same, but without the fuss or discussion.
The US Customs Department released a statement last Saturday reminding importers of a regulation from 1995 that goods produced in the West Bank must be labeled as such, and not labeled “Made in Israel”.
“Goods produced in the West Bank or Gaza Strip shall be marked as originating from ‘West Bank,’ ‘Gaza,’ ‘Gaza Strip,’ ‘West Bank/Gaza,’ ‘West Bank/Gaza Strip,’ ‘West Bank and Gaza,’ or ‘West Bank and Gaza Strip’. It is not acceptable to mark the aforementioned goods with the words ‘Israel,’ ‘Made in Israel,’ ‘Occupied Territories-Israel,’ or any variation thereof. Goods that are erroneously marked as products of Israel will be subject to an enforcement action carried out by U.S. Customs and Border Protection.”
State Department spokesman Mark Toner was asked at a press conference if this was intended as a rebuke to Israel for recent settlement expansion.
He responded that it was, “was simply a restatement of previous requirements” and does not “impose additional requirements”. He stressed that it was in no way a boycott.
It was pointed out that the policy had not been enforced in 20 years.
Toner claimed the decision to enforce it now came as a result of recent complaints, but he declined to specify where the complaints originated.
continue reading
www.breakingisraelnews.com/60140/us-to-begin-enforcing-labeling-of-west-bank-products-judea-and-samaria/
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Post by Daniel on Jan 29, 2016 10:29:05 GMT -5
'America has joined the anti-Semitic campaign against Israel'
By Ari Yashar
1/29/2016
Samaria regional council head Yossi Dagan responded sharply on Friday to reports the day before, revealing that the US reissued its orders to importers not to label products from Judea and Samaria as being from "Israel."
US State Department spokesman Mark Toner on Thursday defended the instructions, saying that they were not a new policy. The instructions were published on Saturday, calling to enforce the 1995 American law on marking goods from the region.
"Even though this is just a 'reissuing,' it is clear why US Customs 'remembered' to brush the cobwebs off this wretched law," said Dagan.
"Unfortunately sources in the US are joining the anti-Semitic campaign against the state of Israel, and we rely on the Foreign Ministry and Deputy Foreign Minister, the Israelis who will know to respond firmly and decisively to this unacceptable attempt to mark Israeli businesses."
Dagan concluded by saying, "we also trust that this time there won't be any influence on the businesses in Judea and Samaria. We will continue to produce and live our lives."
While the US guidelines do not distinguish between Jewish and Arab products, the Obama administration gave support to the EU decision last November to label Jewish products from Judea, Samaria and the Golan Heights.
continue reading
www.israelnationalnews.com/News/News.aspx/207240
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Post by Daniel on Feb 13, 2016 10:00:35 GMT -5
White House rejects trade bill for being too pro-Israel
By Ari Yashar
2/12/2016
The White House on late Thursday issued a statement in which it announced it partially opposes a new bipartisan trade bill, specifying only one part of the bill that calls to strengthen bilateral economic ties with Israel and fight BDS efforts to boycott the Jewish state.
The bill, entitled the Trade Facilitation and Trade Enforcement Act of 2015 or H.R.644, easily passed a bipartisan vote in Congress. According to the statement, US President Barack Obama intends to sign the bill into law.
However, the statement goes on to say: "As with any bipartisan compromise legislation, there are provisions in this bill that we do not support, including a provision that contravenes longstanding U.S. policy towards Israel and the occupied territories, including with regard to Israeli settlement activity."
No other opposition to the bill was expressed, indicating Obama's particular rejection of the section against BDS and the labeling of Jewish goods from certain regions. Obama has given his backing to the recent EU decision to label Jewish goods from Judea, Samaria and the Golan Heights.
He also in late January issued orders to importers to label all products from Judea and Samaria as not being from "Israel." A legal group has argued the orders were not merely "reissued" as the White House claimed, but rather indicated a policy change.
"Obama actively delegitimizes Israel"
A senior congressional aide involved in the matters of the bill was quoted by Washington Free Beacon as expressing shock at the White House statement, and the way it singles out Israel.
"This administration never misses an opportunity to take a swipe at Israel - even if it means criticizing bipartisan anti-BDS measures passed unanimously in the House and Senate,” said the source.
“Don’t fall for any White House doublespeak: Opposing efforts to combat BDS equates to supporting BDS. That’s why history will show that President Obama actively advanced a movement solely aimed at delegitimizing the State of Israel.”
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www.israelnationalnews.com/News/News.aspx/207933
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Post by Daniel on Mar 1, 2016 22:30:57 GMT -5
President Obama’s Anti-Israel Actions Are Dangerous to America
By Carly F. Gammill
...It is also a slap in the face to Israel itself. As even congressional members of his own party have emphasized in breaking with Obama on this issue, the President says he does not support the BDS movement, yet simultaneously opposes a law that requires U.S. officials to discourage pro-BDS activities aimed at delegitimizing Israel through economic measures. As most of us learned in grade school, actions speak louder than words, and the actions (and inaction) of this President and his Administration communicate his actual position loud and clear. He has snubbed the Israeli Prime Minister, repeatedly castigated Israel and its policies in recent days, and his Administration has now issued a memorandum ordering the labeling of Israeli-manufactured goods in the West Bank. The equation here is simple: failure to oppose BDS and related efforts = support of BDS, which, as we have previously discussed = hostility toward the very existence of the Jewish State.
It has long been U.S. policy to encourage peace between the Israelis and Palestinians, but the Obama Administration’s efforts only serve to further divide the two, turning both history and present reality on their heads. The President’s nod to the BDS movement blatantly ignores the past willingness of Israel to work toward a peaceful co-existence, tacitly condones the repeated refusals of the Palestinians to accept any resolution that includes the continued existence of Israel as such, and accepts the erroneous Palestinian rhetoric that Israel’s defensive measures—necessitated by Palestinian attacks—constitute human rights violations, while turning a blind eye to the very real human rights atrocities committed by Israel’s neighboring countries. This approach is antithetical to a peaceful Middle East, and, consequently, harmful to our own national interests, which have long been bolstered by our alliance with the only existing democratic state in that region.
In short, this Administration’s refusal to condemn the BDS movement in all its forms constitutes nothing less than a vote in favor of the movement and its goals: to cripple—and ultimately annihilate—the State of Israel. Contrary to President Obama’s assertions, it is his tactics that are inconsistent with—and detrimental to—not only Israeli interests but also longstanding U.S. policy.
read full article
aclj.org/israel/president-obamas-anti-israel-actions-are-dangerous-to-america
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Post by Daniel on Mar 12, 2016 10:16:58 GMT -5
The Push to Pressure Israel Intensifies Amid Violence
Roger Aronoff — March 10, 2016
It might have taken a terrorist attack that included the death of an American, about a mile away from Vice President Joe Biden’s meeting in Jaffa, Israel, this week, to wake up Americans to the ongoing terrorist wave that has been sweeping Israel for months. The victim was Taylor Force, a 29-year-old Iraq and Afghanistan veteran, killed by an Islamic terrorist. Force’s wife was among 10 others stabbed by the same Palestinian terrorist, and she is in critical condition.
The futility of Biden’s last ditch effort to help give President Obama an additional notch on his legacy belt was underscored by the event, especially since the administration has sought to undermine Israel on several key issues, including the BDS (boycott, divestment, and sanctions) movement.
Through the use of U.S. Customs and Border Control, the Obama administration recently further politicized trade with Israel by requiring that imports from the West Bank be labeled as being from that area rather than from Israel, reported The National Interest in February.
“The penalty states that products must no longer be labeled ‘Made in Israel,’ because the United States views the West Bank as territory illegitimately controlled by Israel,” report Asaf Romirowsky and Benjamin Weinthal. In other words, the Obama administration is playing politics with trade, and with Israel’s legitimacy.
While members of the BDS movement often liken Israel to an apartheid state, it is interesting that one of Israel’s highest ranking soldiers is a Muslim. Yet pop culture shows continue to demonize the Israelis. According to the Zionist Organization of America, the ABC TV show Quantico “falsely claimed in Episode 4 that Israel bombed the Gaza greenhouses, when, in fact, Israel gave these multi-million dollar greenhouses to Gaza’s Arabs, and Palestinian Arabs looted and destroyed the greenhouses.” It also portrays the Israel Defense Forces as “war criminals.” Those are just two of many examples from this show that demonizes Israel and its people. With such misinformation as part of the common culture, it is not surprising that some Americans have called for divestment. Divestment is often defined as the opposite of investment, in this case done for political purposes.
“From the beginning of Obama’s time in office his administration demanded that Israel halt settlement activity,” write Romirowsky and Weinthal, arguing that President Obama assumes that solving the Israeli-Palestinian debate would resolve Middle Eastern tensions. Of course, the informal arrangement with Iran, known as the Iran deal, is supposed to bring about peace, too—ostensibly eliminating Iran’s ability to construct nuclear weapons.
continue reading
www.aim.org/aim-column/the-push-to-pressure-israel-intensifies-amid-violence/
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Post by Daniel on Mar 16, 2016 9:46:09 GMT -5
US attacks Israel for 'land expropriation'
By Nitsan Keidar
3/16/2016
Following on the heels of condemnation by UN Secretary-General Ban Ki-Moon late Tuesday against Israel's designation of territory in Judea and Samaria as state land, the US State Department lost no time in following suit and criticizing the Jewish state.
It was reported by Army Radio on Tuesday that Israel declared 234 hectares of territory to be state land in an area near Jericho and the Dead Sea, in a process of declaring unclaimed land as property of the state.
US State Department Spokesperson John Kirby slammed the designation by saying it has a negative impact on a two state solution, which calls to divide Israel and establish an Arab-only state of "Palestine."
"This is a troubling situation. This decision is an additional step in what looks like an ongoing process of land expropriation and settlement expansion that are fundamentally undermining the prospects for a two state solution."
"As we have said in the past, we strongly oppose any steps that accelerate settlement expansion, which raises serious questions about Israel's long-term intentions," Kirby said in the news briefing.
"While at the same time we continue to demand from both sides to demonstrate true obligations towards each other, expropriations like this do exactly the opposite."
Kirby's condemnation came on the heels of Ban's words, delivered by UN spokesman Stephane Dujarric who said, "such actions appear to point toward an increase in settlement activities and demonstrate that Israel is continuing to push forward in the consolidation of its control of the West Bank."
"Settlements are illegal under international law and the secretary-general urges the government of Israel to halt and reverse such actions in the interest of a just and comprehensive peace and a just final status agreement," he said.
read full article
www.israelnationalnews.com/News/News.aspx/209467
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Post by Daniel on Mar 31, 2016 9:54:04 GMT -5
Dem. Senator: Investigate Israel's 'gross violations of rights'
By Ari Yashar
3/30/2016
Senator Patrick Leahy (D-VT), together with ten House members, has asked the US State Department to investigate claims that Israel has committed "gross violations of human rights," and depending on the results to cut military aid to the Jewish state.
The letter addressed to Secretary of State John Kerry was dated February 17, and was published by Politico on Tuesday night after the news site received it from "an organization that provided input for it."
Leahy's letter targets both Israel and Egypt, and is significant because the senator authored a law conditioning US military aid to foreign countries based on whether their forces commit abuses.
The letter lists claims that Israel's army has conducted "extrajudicial killings," an accusation frequently aired by the Palestinian Authority (PA) to delegitimize the self-defense of citizens and soldiers who have shot attacking Arab terrorists during the recent terror wave raging since last September.
It also accuses Egyptian security forces of extrajudicial killings and forced disappearances, in addition to the crackdown on protests at Rab'aa Square in 2013 in which nearly 1,000 people died.
continue reading
www.israelnationalnews.com/News/News.aspx/210092
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Post by Daniel on Apr 4, 2016 11:12:22 GMT -5
MK: State Dept. criticism causes Palestinians to avoid talks
By Nitsan Keidar
4/4/2016
MK Michael Oren (Kulanu), former Israeli ambassador to the United States, on Sunday night criticized the American government over its criticism on the weekend of the fact that Israel was demolishing Palestinian Arab homes in eastern Jerusalem and Judea and Samaria.
“The State Department criticizes Israeli measures in Judea and Samaria which it views as ‘unilateral measures’ that could harm negotiations with the Palestinians, but on the other hand does not condemn unilateral Palestinian action such as illegal construction and taking over lands,” Oren told Arutz Sheva.
“This policy of double standards weakens the confidence required by the Israelis on the one hand, and on the other hand weakens the viability of the Palestinians to return to the negotiating table,” he added.
Oren pointed out that “the State Department’s announcement is another indication of the erosion of our relations with the U.S. administration, as expressed recently with the cancellation of the Prime Minister's trip to the annual AIPAC conference.”
continue reading
www.israelnationalnews.com/News/News.aspx/210263
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Post by Daniel on Apr 20, 2016 6:57:27 GMT -5
Obama redefines Palestinian terrorism; Israel will pay the price
Att'y Stephen M. Flatow
April 20, 2016
When does Palestinian terrorism against Israelis not count as terrorism? When the Obama administration redefines it for political purposes.
The State Department's annual report on human rights around the world was released this past week, and it included an unprecedented denunciation of Israel. The Israeli security forces are guilty of "excessive use of force" against Palestinian Arabs, according to the State Department.
Obviously the State Department has a right to condemn Israel's security tactics if it believes those tactics are unjustified. No country, not even America's staunchest ally, should be above criticism. But the administration does not have a right to redefine some types of Palestinian terrorism, in order to classify them as non-violence, so that Israel's response to them qualifies as "excessive."
The State Department does not deny the principle that Israeli soldiers are justified to shoot at Palestinians who are attacking them. But it is now redefining what constitutes an "attack." As examples of "excessive force," the report points out that during the past year, there were "numerous" instances of "the ISF (Israel security forces) killing Palestinians during riots, demonstrations, at checkpoints, and during routine operations…"
So if an Israeli soldier kills a Palestinian "during riots" or "demonstrations," that automatically constitutes "excessive force," according to the Obama administration. In other words, "riots" and "demonstrations" are not in the category of actions which could justify a lethal Israeli response.
continue reading
www.israelnationalnews.com/Articles/Article.aspx/18755
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Post by Daniel on Apr 20, 2016 7:02:29 GMT -5
White House backs Biden's criticism of Israel
By Ben Ariel
4/20/2016
The White House on Tuesday backed the harsh remarks against Israel made by Vice President Joe Biden a day earlier.
Biden, who addressed the J Street conference in Washington, expressed what he called the Obama administration’s “overwhelming frustration” with Israel.
“The present course Israel’s on is not one that’s likely to secure its existence as a Jewish, democratic state – and we have to make sure that happens,” Biden said, before going on to criticize Israel over a host of issues.
Despite a partial freeze on construction in Jewish communities in Judea and Samaria, Biden attacked Israeli actions over the Green Line and also openly expressed the hope that the Israeli left win back control of the Knesset.
Asked Tuesday about Biden’s comments, White House spokesman Josh Earnest told reporters, “I think what is true is that this administration, particularly Secretary Kerry and Vice President Biden and President Obama, have all expended significant time and energy and resources to facilitating conversations between the Israelis and Palestinians to find a two-state solution. That is a policy that American Presidents in both parties have pursued, and none have pursued it more aggressively than this administration.”
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www.israelnationalnews.com/News/News.aspx/211164
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Post by Daniel on May 8, 2016 7:37:29 GMT -5
Report: US planning to take tougher line against Israel
By David Rosenberg
5/7/2016
The Middle East Quartet, made up of the US, EU, UN, and Russia, is scheduled to release a major policy report later in coming weeks, and senior diplomats involved in its drafting have indicated that the US is taking a far harder line on Israel than in the past.
The report, which is likely to be released in late May or early June, will focus heavily on Israeli construction in Judea, Samaria, and Jerusalem, senior diplomats told AP. The Quartet’s report will also take Israel to task for the demolition of illegal Arab buildings – many of which were built with the support of the European Union.
While in the past the US worked to soften some of the criticism against Israel leveled by the EU, UN, and Russia, now, say officials working on the Quartet report, US diplomats are pushing for harsher language against the Jewish state.
One diplomat said the report was the Obama administration’s way of putting Israel “on notice” that its patience was wearing thin.
continue reading
www.israelnationalnews.com/News/News.aspx/211904
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fearnot
Living With Pain
Posts: 8,399 
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Post by fearnot on May 9, 2016 0:19:59 GMT -5
How very very very sad! But I guess once again, it proves the Bible correct, soon all will have turned against Israel.
Well, Jesus must be ever so much closer.
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Post by Daniel on Jun 10, 2016 10:02:11 GMT -5
US State Department Condemns Terror Attack But Warns Israel Not to Inconvenience Palestinians
By Adam Eliyahu Berkowitz June 10, 2016
The US State Department condemned the recent terror attack in Tel Aviv, but also warned that Israel should avoid having any “impact on Palestinian citizens that are trying to go about their daily lives”.
On Wednesday night two Palestinians from a village near Hebron entered a restaurant in the Sarona Market in downtown Tel Aviv and opened fire, killing four. One terrorist was shot in the legs while attempting to flee and the other surrendered to police.
Israel has responded by rescinding 204 work permits of the terrorists’ family members and 83,000 entry permits for Arabs from Judea and Samaria to visit their families and the Temple Mount for their Ramadan period. Newly appointed Defense Minister Avigdor Liberman also announced that Israel would stop returning the bodies of Palestinian attackers to their families for burial.
On Wednesday night, Mark Toner, spokesman for the US State Department, made a statement condemning the attack.
continue reading
www.breakingisraelnews.com/69581/us-state-department-condemns-terror-attack-warns-israel-not-inconvenience-palestinians/
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Post by Daniel on Jul 5, 2016 18:09:34 GMT -5
US accuses Israel of systematically seizing Palestinian land
By Times of Israel staff and AFP July 5, 2016
The State Department on Tuesday accused Israel of systematically seizing Palestinian land after the Jewish state okayed the construction of 800 housing units in the West Bank and East Jerusalem.
In the unusually strongly worded statement, spokesman John Kirby said the reports of new construction permits, which came Sunday as a response to two deadly terror attacks, called into question Israel’s commitment to the two-state solution.
“If its true, this report would be the latest step in what seems to be the systematic process of land seizures settlement expansions and legalization of outposts that is fundamentally undermining the prospects for a two-state solution. We oppose steps like these which we believe are counterproductive,” Kirby said.
He added that Washington was “deeply concerned” about the move.
“This action risks entrenching a one state reality and raises serious questions about Israel’s intentions,” he said, citing a report released by the Quartet for Mideast Peace which criticized Israeli settlement building.
continue reading
www.timesofisrael.com/after-settlement-announcement-us-accuses-israel-of-systematic-seizure-of-palestinian-land/
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Post by Daniel on Jul 6, 2016 11:12:30 GMT -5
Rejecting US criticism, PM denies settlements are preventing peace
By Raphael Ahren and Times of Israel staff July 6, 2016
KIGALI, Rwanda — Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu rejected international criticism of his recent decision to build additional housing units in East Jerusalem and the West Bank. The US State Department, the UN and the European Union have harshly criticized those plans, which were announced after two Israelis — a 13-year-old girl and a father-of-10 — were murdered by Palestinian terrorists last week.
“Building in Jerusalem and Ma’aleh Adumim is not, with all due respect, distancing peace,” Netanyahu said, speaking at a press conference here alongside Rwandan President Paul Kagame. “What is preventing peace is the ongoing incitement against the existence of Israel within any borders, and it is time for the nations of the world to recognize that truth.”
Jerusalem is willing to enter direct bilateral peace talks with the Palestinians “with no preconditions,” the prime minister said. However, it is Ramallah that is refusing to negotiate, he charged. “These are the things that prevent peace, and not another couple of apartments (built) by the Ma’aleh Adumim municipality or in East Jerusalem.”
continue reading
www.timesofisrael.com/rejecting-us-criticism-pm-denies-settlements-are-preventing-peace/
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Post by Daniel on Jul 30, 2016 9:31:04 GMT -5
Israel fires back at US over criticism of settlement building
By Eric Cortellessa and Times of Israel staff
July 29, 2016
The Israeli government on Friday fired back at the US State Department over its criticism a day earlier that Israeli construction over the Green Line is “provocative and counterproductive.”
In a statement, the Israeli Foreign Ministry rejected the US argument that recently announced plans to build in East Jerusalem were undermining the prospects for a two-state solution, calling that argument “factually baseless.”
On Wednesday, Israel announced the approval of 323 tenders for housing units in East Jerusalem, and plans to build 770 units in Gilo. While much of the international community considers Gilo a settlement, Israel considers it a neighborhood of annexed East Jerusalem and argues that it will be part of Israel in any negotiated peace agreement.
The international outcry, said Foreign Ministry spokesman Emanuel Nachshon on Friday according to Haaretz, “was done with the full knowledge that the neighborhood of Gilo in Jerusalem will be part of Israel in any conceivable agreement reached through negotiations. The argument that building in Gilo undermines the two-state solution is factually baseless and distracts from the real obstacle to peace — the persistent Palestinian refusal to recognize Israel as a Jewish state, under any borders.”
continue reading
www.timesofisrael.com/israel-fires-back-at-us-over-criticism-of-settlement-building/
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Post by sevenofnine on Jul 30, 2016 10:50:49 GMT -5
Hey don't worry Israel you got about less than 6 months with this President LOL!
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Post by Daniel on Aug 31, 2016 17:41:37 GMT -5
Obama administration blasts Israeli housing plans
David Rosenberg, 31/08/16
Hours after Israel’s Civil Administration gave approval to 463 housing units in Samaria, the Obama administration issued a firm rebuke, condemning the move and warning that Israel risked undermining “the prospects for a two-state solution”.
Speaking to reporters Wednesday evening, White House Press Secretary Josh Earnest expressed the administration’s “concern” for the Israeli government’s green-lighting of the housing projects, saying they posed a “growing threat” to the establishment of a Palestinian state.
"We are deeply concerned by the government of Israel's announcement today to advance plans for over 500 new settlement units in the West Bank," Earnest said.
"This significant expansion of the settlement enterprise poses a very serious and growing threat to the viability of the two-state solution.”
more
www.israelnationalnews.com/News/News.aspx/217199
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Post by sevenofnine on Aug 31, 2016 19:36:44 GMT -5
All due respect President Obama last time we check you not PM of Israel HELLO
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Post by Daniel on Oct 15, 2016 9:00:34 GMT -5
U.S. blasts Israeli activities in Judea and Samaria
Ben Ariel, Canada, 14/10/16
The United States on Friday criticized Israeli policies in Judea and Samaria during a UN Security Council discussion on the issue.
The meeting, titled "Illegal Israeli Settlements: Obstacles to Peace and the Two-State Solution," was informal and did not involve a vote. It was held at the initiative of Egypt, Venezuela, Malaysia, Senegal and Angola.
The U.S. representative to the session, Deputy U.S. Ambassador to the UN David Pressman, said Washington is "deeply concerned and strongly opposes settlements which are corrosive to peace," according to Haaretz.
Pressman added that Israeli activities in Judea and Samaria, primarily construction of new communities, “create a one state reality on the ground."
The U.S. calls on both sides to adopt policies and take immediate steps toward "implementing the two-state solution," he said, according to Haaretz.
At the same time, Pressman also condemned Palestinian Arab terror attacks on Israelis, and said that figures who incite violence are sending a message to the international community that they aren't interested in peace.
The remarks mark the latest incident in which American officials have condemned Israeli construction projects in Judea and Samaria.
more
www.israelnationalnews.com/News/News.aspx/219004
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Post by Daniel on Dec 20, 2016 19:34:15 GMT -5
State Department spokesman brands settlements ‘illegal’
By Eric Cortellessa December 20, 2016
WASHINGTON — State Department spokesman John Kirby reaffirmed the US commitment to a two-state solution and longstanding opposition to Israeli settlement construction in the West Bank — referring in unusually harsh language to the enterprise’s “illegality” — five days after President-elect Donald Trump announced he would appoint an outspoken settlements supporter, David Friedman, to be the next US ambassador to Israel.
Speaking with MSNBC’s Andrea Mitchell on Tuesday afternoon, Kirby responded to Friedman’s nomination by saying the Obama administration’s stance opposing settlement expansion covers “generations of US policy on both sides of the aisle.”
“Our policy is entirely consistent with that longstanding view about settlements, and to the degree also, not just the illegality of them, but that they are not helping us get to a two-state solution, and everybody says that they want to get to a two-state solution,” Kirby said.
Designating Israel’s settlement of the West Bank “illegal” is unusual for an American official, as US policy has long avoided invoking international law.
According to veteran Middle East peace negotiator Dennis Ross, such a characterization would undercut the US negotiating position of seeking to keep in place the major blocs that Israel would likely retain under any permanent accord in exchange for mutually agreed upon land swaps within Israel proper for a future Palestinian state.
“Since the Reagan administration, the US made a policy that settlements were a political issue and not a legal issue,” Ross told The Times of Israel in October 2015.
continue reading
www.timesofisrael.com/after-friedman-nod-state-dept-reaffirms-support-for-two-states-calls-settlements-illegal/
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Post by sevenofnine on Dec 21, 2016 13:35:12 GMT -5
I just hope President Elect Trump could overturn this part of Obama decision he can he would new President on Jaunary 20
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Post by Daniel on Dec 29, 2016 8:22:28 GMT -5
Kerry Attacks Israeli Government, Defends UN Resolution
by Joel B. Pollak
28 Dec 2016
Lame-duck Secretary of State John Kerry blasted the Israeli government at the State Department on Wednesday, and attempted to defend the Obama administration’s decision to let an anti-Israel resolution pass at the UN Security Council last week.
Kerry delivered his remarks in the midst of a diplomatic fight with Israel, in which President Barack Obama stands accused of working with Palestinians secretly to undermine Israeli security, overturning decades of American foreign policy precedent in the process.
Kerry began by reassuring “President Obama has been deeply committed to Israel and its security.” He then declared: “The two-state solution is the only way to achieve a just and lasting peace between Israelis and Palestinians.” He resisted, he said, the idea that support for Israel meant accepting any Israeli policy.
Responding to Israel’s claim that the U.S. had abandoned the two countries’ shared values in allowing the resolution to pass, Kerry said, “I am compelled to respond today that the United States did vote in accordance with our values,” claiming the UN vote “was about preserving the two-state solution … Israel’s future as a Jewish and democratic state … that is what we are trying to preserve, for our sake and theirs.”
He went on to claim the Obama administration has been “Israel’s greatest friend and supporter,” adding that “No American administration has done more for Israel’s security than Barack Obama’s … Time and again, we have demonstrated that we have Israel’s back.”
more
www.breitbart.com/national-security/2016/12/28/kerry-on-israel-peace-un-resolution/
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Post by Daniel on Dec 30, 2016 8:12:38 GMT -5
Obama’s Treachery Exposed
By Joan Swirsky December 29, 2016
After watching all the pomp and circumstance of the presidential inauguration of January 20, 2009, I remember turning to my husband Steve and saying: “The sole mission of Barack Obama and his henchmen is to destroy Israel.”
Steve reminded me that there was a mountain of domestic issues awaiting the new, far-left regime, and I agreed. And sure enough, Mr. Obama and his minions proceeded to wreak havoc on job creation and on the American military, inflict strangulating regulations, amass crushing national debt, foist horrific healthcare and education systems on our citizens, and seed every government department with operatives from the Nazi-inspired terrorist organization Muslim Brotherhood, and then hand over control of the Internet to the United Nations—the most corrupt, tin-pot-dictator-driven, anti-American, anti-Semitic, American-resource-draining cesspool in our country.
But all that still left them plenty of time to enact a foreign policy that genuflected to our enemies and spit in the face of our most faithful allies, most particularly Israel.
Writer Mona Charen has said that Mr. Obama has a “genocidal hostility toward Israel.” As if to reinforce that opinion, he just engaged in his longtime habit of spitting on Jews—and also Christians—by launching his poison dart on December 23rd, right in time for Chanukah and Christmas.
After the first vote proposed by Egypt to condemn Israeli “settlements”—meaning housing on Israeli land—was canceled after President-elect Trump intervened, the vote was rescheduled in the United Nation’s Security Council when New Zealand (10,000 miles from Israel), Malaysia (where the official religion is Islam), Senegal (which is 90-percent Muslim), and Venezuela (so impoverished that people are now scrounging for toilet paper) reinstituted the anti-Israel measure, and the United States, reversing decades of U.S. policy, refused to veto it.
more
canadafreepress.com/article/obamas-treachery-exposed
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Post by Daniel on Jan 4, 2017 8:11:54 GMT -5
Obama Administration Set for One Last Strike at Israel
P. David Hornik
January 4, 2017
A week and a half ago President Obama gave the order for the U.S. to abstain on UN Security Council Resolution 2334, thereby—effectively—voting in favor and allowing the resolution to pass.
As I noted, the resolution goes beyond “moral equivalency” by obfuscating Palestinian terror and incitement while branding Jewish life beyond the 1949 Armistice Lines a “flagrant violation under international law” and a “major obstacle…to peace.”
But the administration wasn’t through with Israel. A few days later, with the Middle East aflame from Yemen to Iraq to Syria to Libya to Sudan and Iranian expansionism on the march, Secretary of State Kerry delivered a 75-minute harangue against what he called Israel’s “pernicious policy of settlement construction that is making peace impossible.”
Critics have noted that—in the real world—Israeli construction in settlements under the recent Netanyahu governments has been so modest that it has not affected the Israeli-Palestinian population balance in the West Bank; and that if any and all Israeli presence beyond the 1949 Armistice Lines is “illegal,” then the idea of a “peace process” to settle claims over disputed land appears to be invalidated, since Israel is then nothing but a rapacious thief and the Palestinians its victims seeking redress.
more
www.frontpagemag.com/fpm/265350/obama-administration-set-one-last-strike-israel-p-david-hornik
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Post by Daniel on Jan 10, 2017 20:25:55 GMT -5
Danon: Obama abandoned Israel at the Security Council
Ben Ariel, 11/01/17
Israel’s Ambassador to the United Nations, Danny Danon, responded on Tuesday to President Barack Obama’s remarks in an interview with Channel 2’s Ilana Dayan.
In the interview, Obama insisted that he had been a friend to Israel during his time in office and also claimed that UN Resolution 2334, which condemned Israel’s presence in Judea, Samaria and eastern Jerusalem, was “the best option to achieve peace.”
“Despite the close cooperation between Israel and the United States during the administration of President Obama, unfortunately his tenure will be remembered with the harsh picture of the applause following the approval of the Security Council resolution against Israel,” said Danon.
“The Obama administration left Israel alone in the Security Council vote against it and this fact cannot be changed,” added the Israeli Ambassador.
Deputy Minister of Regional Cooperation Ayoob Kara (Likud) commented on Obama’s remarks as well.
“Obama covered the knife in chocolate. He supported the division of Jerusalem, prevented the collapse of the evil empire of the Ayatollahs in Iran who are on their way to a nuclear bomb, and abandoned all the allies of the United States,” said Kara.
Obama pointed out in the interview with Dayan that the U.S. continues to support Israel through financial aid. He further said that Prime Minister Binyamin Netanyahu had a friend in the White House when Obama was president, but Netanyahu did not always recognize that fact.
more
www.israelnationalnews.com/News/News.aspx/223087
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Post by Daniel on Jan 10, 2017 20:35:56 GMT -5
PM: Unequivocal evidence administration behind UN resolution
Yoni Kempinsky, 10/01/17
Prime Minister Binyamin Netanyahu told a delegation from AIPAC Tuesday that Israel had proof that the Obama Administration was involved in the planning of the anti-Israel resolution which was passed by the UN Security Council last month declaring all Jewish presence over the 1949 armistice lines to be illegal.
"We have unequivocal evidence that the Security Council Resolution passed in the UN against Israel was led by the Administration. There is no question whatsoever about that." Netanyahu said.
more
www.israelnationalnews.com/News/News.aspx/223069
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