Israel Matzav

Good news: State Department says I can buy in 'east' Jerusalem

I can't believe a reporter asked the question, but at Wednesday's press briefing, State Department spokesman Ian Kelly told the media that yes, it's okay for dual citizens to buy apartments in 'east' Jerusalem.

QUESTION: But about the new housing units that have been announced for East Jerusalem.

MR. KELLY: Oh, the new housing, I don’t have anything to add to what the White House said on Friday.

QUESTION: Well, that was – that was about the West Bank. This is new housing units in East Jerusalem.

MR. KELLY: We – our position is clear. We do not – we believe that Israel has an obligation to cease all settlement activity in East Jerusalem or the West Bank or wherever it may be over the 1967 border.

Yes.

QUESTION: I have a question on the settlements. There are reports that Americans who hold dual Israeli citizenship have been helping to finance certain settlements in East Jerusalem in areas that are heavily populated with Muslim communities, which would be in contradiction to your policy. Is it concerning that there are American citizens who are doing this, and is it counter-productive to your objectives?

MR. KELLY: Yeah. Well, first of all, these are private American citizens. I’m not going to pronounce on investment decisions that are not contrary to U.S. law that are made by private American citizens. Again, you know what our policy is, that we need to get to the point where we have the proper atmosphere for the two sides to sit down and come up with a solution to this longstanding conflict. We need to remove all the obstacles in the way of getting to that point of being able to start talks.

QUESTION: Would that be one of the obstacles?

MR. KELLY: And this would – we see the settlements as one of the obstacles to these talks.

What on earth was this reporter thinking? That the US would revoke our citizenship because we live in 'east' Jerusalem? That American citizens who live in the US (most of the dual citizens probably live in Israel, but that's a separate issue) would be arrested and charged with a violation of the Logan Act?

Well, the Democrats know all about violations of the Logan Act, don't they?

posted by Carl in Jerusalem @ 9:50 AM