Greetings from Boston, where I landed yesterday morning. A brief post and then back to work.
The Washington Post is reporting that the entire senior executive level at the State Department has resigned, apparently out of fear of what might happen in a Trump administration. Keeping in mind that most of the senior echelon in the State Department is Arabist, this may be good for Israel, notwithstanding reporter Josh Rogin's obvious discomfort with it.
[Secretary of State Rex] Tillerson was actually inside the State Department’s headquarters in
Foggy Bottom on Wednesday, taking meetings and getting the lay of the
land. I reported Wednesday morning that the Trump team was narrowing its search
for his No. 2, and that it was looking to replace the State
Department’s long-serving undersecretary for management, Patrick
Kennedy. Kennedy, who has been in that job for nine years, was actively
involved in the transition and was angling to keep that job under
Tillerson, three State Department officials told me.
Then
suddenly on Wednesday afternoon, Kennedy and three of his top officials
resigned unexpectedly, four State Department officials confirmed.
Assistant Secretary of State for Administration Joyce Anne Barr,
Assistant Secretary of State for Consular Affairs Michele Bond and
Ambassador Gentry O. Smith, director of the Office of Foreign Missions,
followed him out the door. All are career foreign service officers who
have served under both Republican and Democratic administrations.
Kennedy will retire from the foreign service at the end of the month,
officials said. The other officials could be given assignments
elsewhere in the foreign service.
In addition, Assistant
Secretary of State for Diplomatic Security Gregory Starr retired Jan.
20, and the director of the Bureau of Overseas Building Operations,
Lydia Muniz, departed the same day. That amounts to a near-complete
housecleaning of all the senior officials that deal with managing the
State Department, its overseas posts and its people.
“It’s the
single biggest simultaneous departure of institutional memory that
anyone can remember, and that’s incredibly difficult to replicate,” said
David Wade, who served as State Department chief of staff under
Secretary of State John Kerry. “Department expertise in security,
management, administrative and consular positions in particular are very
difficult to replicate and particularly difficult to find in the
private sector.”
All I can think of when I hear about the State Department securing diplomats is Benghazi, although that was clearly Hillary Clinton's and Barack Obama's fault, and not that of the State Department bureaucrats.
More encouraging is the fact that 'Palestinian' chief negotiator bottle washer Saeb Erekat is expressing 'shock' at President Trump's silence on Israeli 'settlement building.'
On Tuesday, Prime Minister Binyamin Netanyahu and Defense Minister Avigdor Liberman announced the approval of 2,500 housing units
in Jewish communities in Judea and Samaria, in order to accommodate the
housing needs of the residents and to return their daily routine to
normal.
The announcement followed the approval earlier this week of 566 new housing units in the Jerusalem neighborhoods of Ramat Shlomo, Ramot and Pisgat Ze'ev.
While the United Nations and the European Union were quick to condemn the new construction, White House spokesman Sean Spicer on Tuesday declined to express a position on Israeli construction when asked about it in his daily press briefing.
"Israel continues to be a huge ally of the United States," Spicer
said, when asked about Trump's perspective on the Israeli plan to
implement the construction plans.
"He wants to grow closer to Israel to make sure it gets the full
respect in the Middle East," he continued. "We'll have a conversation
with the prime minister."
Responding on Wednesday to the White House refusing to comments, Erekat told AFP,
"We used to hear condemnations, we used to hear American positions
saying '(Israel) should stop settlement activities, it's an obstacle to
peace.'"
"Not commenting, does that mean that President Trump is
encouraging... settlement activities? We need an answer from the
American administration," he added.
Life has sure changed for the 'Palestinians,' hasn't it? If they don't get to the table and negotiate (for real) soon without preconditions, there's not likely to be much left to negotiate about. This whiny series of diagrams regarding future Israeli building plans in Jerusalem appeared in Israel's Hebrew 'Palestinian' daily (HaAretz). If all of these plans go through, Jerusalem will thankfully be surrounded with Jewish children.
All of this follows on the heels of yesterday's news that the first act of the Trump-Tillerson State Department was to place a hold on the $221 million parting gift that former President Hussein Obama attempted to give the 'Palestinians' and that one of President Trump's first executive orders would suspend aid to the United Nations or any of its agencies if they recognize a 'Palestinian state.'
Much of this is, of course, a reversal of Obama administration policy implemented during the last administration's first days in office. But if it lasts, the world will be a very different place four or eight years from now.
Congress to freeze State Department funding until embassy moves to Jerusalem
In yet another slap in the face to President Hussein Obama, the Washington Free Beacon reports that the Republican-controlled Congress is freezing State Department funding until the US Embassy to Israel moves to Jerusalem.
A delegation of Republican senators is moving forward with an effort to
freeze some funding to the State Department until the U.S. embassy in
Israel is formally moved to Jerusalem, according to new legislation.
...
The effort is being spearheaded by Sens. Ted Cruz (R., Texas), Marco
Rubio (R., Fla.), and Dean Heller (R., Nev.), all of whom support
efforts by the incoming Trump administration to move the U.S. embassy to
Jerusalem after years of debate.
“Jerusalem is the eternal and undivided capital of Israel,” Cruz said
in a statement. “Unfortunately, the Obama administration’s vendetta
against the Jewish state has been so vicious that to even utter this
simple truth—let alone the reality that Jerusalem is the appropriate
venue for the American embassy in Israel—is shocking in some circles.”
“But it is finally time to cut through the double-speak and broken
promises and do what Congress said we should do in 1995: formally move
our embassy to the capital of our great ally Israel,” Cruz said.
The legislation orders the White House to identify Jerusalem as
Israel’s capital, which the Obama administration has refused to do. The
bill will freeze a significant portion of the State Department’s funding
until it completes the relocation.
In the past, the Obama White House has been caught scrubbing captions
on official photographs that labeled Jerusalem as part of Israel. The
administration also was entangled in a Supreme Court case when it
refused to permit an American family to list its child’s birthplace as
“Jerusalem, Israel.”
Heller said the legislation could help repair America’s relationship
with Israel, which has become strained under the Obama administration.
Mark January 20 on your calendars. That's the date US-Israel relations make a significant change for the better.
Joe Biden gets his revenge on Netanyahu by forcing Ukraine to vote against Israel
YNet is reporting that serial groper Joe Biden got his revenge for being 'humiliated' by Prime Minister Netanyahu six years ago by pressuring Ukraine to vote in favor of a Security Council resolution calling Israeli 'settlements' 'illegal' on Friday.
Ukraine’s decision to vote in favor of the resolution appears to
demonstrate the extent to which US President Barack Obama was behind the
decision.
According to officials in Israel, Ukrainian Prime Minister
Volodymyr Groysman, a Jew who is thought of as one of Israel’s main
supporters, wanted that his country not be involved in the consultations
held on the resolution.
However, Ukraine's President Petro Poroshenko decided to vote in
favor of its passage following a telephone conversation with US Vice
President Joe Biden.
"The text of the resolution is balanced," Kiev asserted. "It
calls for taking measures necessary for peaceful solution from both
Israeli and Palestinian sides: Israel should stop its settlement
activities while Palestinian authorities – to take effective measures
toward fighting against terrorism."
"Our country consistently advocates the respect for the
international law by everyone and everywhere as has experienced itself
the tragic consequences brought by its violation," the Ukrainian Foreign
Ministry added.
Perhaps this is why one of the first places in which the Netanyahu government has announced that it will build in response to the United Nations is the scene of Biden's 'humiliation,' RamatShlomo.
Horror in London: Trump actually intends to move US embassy to Jerusalem
Greetings from Boston where I celebrated the end of the Clinton dynasty last night by staying up way too long.
Al-Guardian is quoting Donald Trump adviser David Friedman (pictured, left) as saying that President Trump really does intend to move the US embassy in Israel to Jerusalem.
Israeli government ministers and political figures are pushing the US
president-elect, Donald Trump, to quickly fulfill his campaign promise
to overturn decades of US foreign policy and recognise Jerusalem as Israel’s capital and to move the US embassy from Tel Aviv.
‘It was a campaign promise and there is every intention to keep it,”
Friedman said. ‘We are going to see a very different relationship
between America and Israel in a positive way.”
Trump has also promised to 'tear up' the nuclear deal with Iran (which I cannot quite see him doing, although I do see him reimposing sanctions if there continues to be evidence that Iran is developing ballistic missiles and nuclear weapons), and has invited Prime Minister Netanyahu to the White House, calling Israel a close friend.
Netanyahu has reciprocated.
Trump’s election was quickly welcomed by Netanyahu who,
but the Israeli president steered clear of controversial issues, only
congratulating Trump and calling him a “true friend” of Israel while
pledging to work with him on security and peace in the region.
Netanyahu
later released a video on YouTube welcoming Trump’s appointment.
“President-elect Trump is a true friend of the state of Israel,” said
Netanyahu in a statement. “We will work together to advance the
security, stability and peace in our region. The strong connection
between the United States and Israel is based on shared values, shared
interests and a shared destiny.
“I’m certain that President-elect Trump and I will continue to
strengthen the unique alliance between Israel and the United States, and
bring it to new heights,” he added.
Indeed, there are many reasons for Israelis to be pleased by Trump's election.
A Trump administration will be far more favourable to the Jewish
state, another of the president-elect’s advisers on Israel has said.
Shmuel Rosner, a senior fellow at the Jewish People Policy Institute,
said a Trump administration is likely to be “much more understanding if
Israel has to use force in order to tamp down Palestinian violence”.
He also said he felt the Israeli-Palestinian conflict would be “much
less of a priority, and when it’s not a priority, this means that Israel
in some ways gets off the hook”.
Palestinian president Mahmud Abbas congratulated Trump and said he
hoped peace could be achieved during his term based on the two-state
solution.
“We are ready to deal with the elected president on the basis of a
two-state solution and to establish a Palestinian state on the 1967
borders,” spokesman Nabil Abu Rudeina told AFP, referring to the year
when Israel seized the West Bank.
I didn't know that Rosner was advising Trump. That's interesting in itself.
In any event, given how little the Arab world cares for the 'Palestinians,' their position definitely does not improve by Trump's election.
Obama claims Peres and Rabin aren't buried in Israel
Shavua tov, a good week to everyone.
Here's a screen shot of the text of President Obama's speech at Shimon Peres' Friday funeral:
For the record, Mount Herzl is located in 'West' Jerusalem (the part that was ruled by Jews between 1948-67) so he doesn't have that excuse either. This is from Tom Gross via email:
What many Israelis and others don’t find amusing is that the White House – eager to stick with its fiction that (west) Jerusalem is not part of Israel – issued a press release correcting their previous press release which had stated that Peres’s funeral was in Israel. (See screenshot above.)
It is preposterous that Barack Obama, having just given a speech that many Israelis welcomed in which he appeared to show some real empathy for Zionism, and having firmly implied that he was giving the speech in Israel, should then allow his press aides to remove the word “Israel” from the White House press material sent out to hundreds of journalists.
Even journalists not normally sympathetic to Israel said they were surprised at the White House’s actions.
Obama was speaking at Mount Herzl nearby Yad Vashem in west Jerusalem. Shimon Peres’ coffin was laid to rest next to that of Yitzhak Rabin. Is it really the position of the White House that Rabin and Peres are not buried in Israel?
Why anyone thinks Obama has any empathy for Israel is simply beyond me. He cannot be gone from office soon enough.
The day the Republican party moved squarely into the pro-Israel corner
Yes, it's late again.
Here's video from Tuesday Republican national party platform committee meeting in which what is almost certainly the most pro-Israel platform ever by a US political party is adopted.
This is a scoop: the Republican National Platform Committee a few
moments ago unanimously adopted the Clemmons Amendment changing in one
fell swoop 25 years of standard language and putting the Republican
Party squarely behind the unity of Jerusalem, against BDS, removing the
label of "occupier" from Israel for returning to Judea, and much more.
The amendment was adopted with a standing ovation by the Platform
Committee and tears from us in the audience. Please check YouTube to see
Alan Clemmons stirring remarks introducing the Amendment. And see this
page for the text of the Amendment that was drafted with the active
participation of Donald Trump's Middle East advisors.
The text of the amendment is above (unless it changed since last night).
#FeelTheBern Sanders appoints 3 anti-Israel 'activists' to write Democratic party platform, Wasserman-Schultz appoints another one as chair, and Clinton appoints... Wendy Sherman
The Democratic party has revamped the way it appoints members of its platform committee, apportioning representation based on votes in the primary. As a result, Hillary Clinton has appointed six members of the platform committee, Bernie Sanders has appointed five, and party Chaircritter Debbie Wasserman Schultz ('I wear my support for Israel to work on my sleeve every morning') has appointed four.
One of Sanders' appointees is longtime anti-Israel activist James Zogby.
Sanders’s choices include James Zogby, a pro-Palestinian activist who
is president of the Arab-American Institute in Washington and a
frequent commentator on Arab-Israeli issues.
On Saturday Zogby
noted recent government shifts under Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu
that consolidated his right-wing power base.
“His behavior has
been shameful, but so too is the extent to which Israelis, Americans and
others continue to enable his malevolent rule,” Zogby wrote.
The Obama administration has “repeatedly expressed displeasure over
Netanyahu’s settlement policies and his blatant interference in US
internal politics. Nevertheless the administration is now debating
whether to reward his government with a 10 year aid package valued at
$35 billion—while Netanyahu, supported by allies in Congress, is
brazenly holding out for $45 to $50 billion,” he wrote. “And so,
operating with virtually no restraints, Netanyahu continues to maneuver
and to aggressively advance his hard-line agenda. He maintains his grip
on power. Israeli society continues to become more extreme and
intolerant. Palestinians are more despairing and desperate. And peace
more remote.”
Other Sanders appointees include two other anti-Israel 'activists' - Cornel West and America's first Muslim Congresscritter, Keith Ellison.
One of Clinton's appointees is Wendy Sherman, the social worker turned nuclear negotiator, who brought us the disastrous nuclear agreements with Iran and North Korea.
And Wasserman Schutlz appointed as Chairman of the Platform Committee Representative Elijah Cummings, another member of the Hamas 54 (along with Ellison) who called for lifting the Gaza 'blockade' and letting Hamas continue to lob rockets at Israel.
While American sources claimed Abbas’ statement was “inaccurate,”
senior Palestinian and Israeli officials alike confirmed that the
Americans were not enthusiastic about such a meeting taking place. They
believe it would be explosive and cause the situation to deteriorate
even further. The Americans have learned from experience. They bear the
battle scars of countless disappointments. They would therefore prefer
to spend time preparing for such a meeting, honing positions,
coordinating expectations and going for a sure thing.
For the past few months, the Americans have been very concerned that they could lose Abbas. The Palestinian president’s status among his own people is getting weaker by the day,
and demonstrations against him are turning violent. A quiet uprising of
sorts against him is already underway in the refugee camps, and it
erupts every so often. In some instances, there has even been an
exchange of fire between insurgent Palestinians and security forces. The
last thing Kerry wants to see is Abbas resign or be deposed and have
the West Bank slip into administrative and military chaos. He’s already
had enough problems like that.
The real drama is taking place behind the scenes on various fronts. Kerry met recently
with the leader of the Israeli opposition, Knesset member and Zionist
Camp head Isaac Herzog. While both sides deny they discussed the
political situation, it is quite safe to assume that they did not skip
over the topic.
Netanyahu made him a very tempting
offer in which Herzog’s party would receive the Foreign, Defense and
Justice ministries. Herzog does want to join the government. He knows
that the position of defense minister (offered for just half a term, in
another year and a half) could help him overcome his image as a weakling
and give him that special something he needs to become prime minister.
Before he can join, however, he will have to convince his own party’s
Central Committee to extend his term as chairman until late 2017. That
is what Netanyahu wants in exchange for the deal. The prime minister is
not willing to forego all these strategic assets only to see Herzog
deposed a few months later and replaced with a new party chair who will
lead the Zionist Camp out of the coalition. If that happened, Netanyahu
would be exposed in every direction.
...
Kerry and the peace team he put together (which has since come apart)
are committed to achieving something. They have no interest in leaving
the negotiations in ruins. It is quite possible he would prefer that negotiations were renewed
after Herzog joins Netanyahu’s government and leads it to the political
center. Not only is Netanyahu’s current government incapable of
conducting negotiations, it wouldn’t last the first 15 minutes. Bringing
24 new Knesset members from the center-left into the coalition would
turn this government into something very different. I assume that Kerry
is kept abreast of the secret contacts between Herzog and Netanyahu and
is keeping his fingers crossed for them.
But there is another issue that is even more significant. On Sept. 2,
Al-Monitor revealed that in his meeting with Abbas on March 17, 2014,
President Barack Obama handed Abbas a proposal for a framework agreement with Israel.
This proposal was based on an earlier draft of a framework agreement
reached between the Israelis and the Americans. That agreement was the
outcome of intense negotiations between Kerry, Netanyahu and their
respective staffs, conducted over many long weeks via video
conferencing. The talks took place on an almost daily basis and lasted
for hours. They eventually resulted in a very volatile document in which
Netanyahu agreed to create a mechanism to rehabilitate the Palestinian
refugees. He even agreed to take in a limited number of refugees (to be
determined by Israel), as well as to the principle of the 1967 borders
serving as the basis for each state (with land swaps).
The one point that Netanyahu refused to concede was the status of
Jerusalem. The Americans inserted an especially explosive clause (making
Jerusalem the capital of two states) and presented it to Abbas.
The Palestinian leader has been true to form and has yet to respond
to Obama’s proposal. Kerry seems concerned that in any potential meeting
between Netanyahu and Abbas, this draft will be raised for discussion.
The ensuing explosion would be nuclear. There is no way Netanyahu could
survive politically once that happened. When the Americans informed the
Israelis about their changes to the draft, the Israelis responded with a
shrug. Netanyahu’s adviser, attorney Yitzhak Molcho, told the
Americans, “You can add whatever you want. The Palestinians will still
say no.”
So Netanyahu has already conceded the 1967 lines (1949 armistice lines) as a 'basis for negotiations,' has already conceded '100% land swaps,' has already conceded the 'right of return,' but hasn't yet conceded Jerusalem. The difference between Netanyahu and Olmert 2008 or Barak 2000 is... quite small.
Aren't you glad we elected a 'right wing government'?
As the English edition of Jerusalem: Delusions of Division goes
to print, the Washington Institute for Near East Policy has published
remarkable findings of a public-opinion survey conducted in east
Jerusalem in June 2015, under the supervision of David Pollock.1
For the first time, it has been discovered that more than half the Arab
residents of the eastern part of the city – 52 percent – prefer to
obtain Israeli citizenship with equal rights, while only 45 percent
prefer Palestinian citizenship within the framework of a Palestinian
state. Only five years ago, in another survey that Pollock supervised,
only 35 percent of the east Jerusalem respondents said they wanted to
become Israeli citizens.
Anyone not aware of what has been happening in east Jerusalem is
indeed likely to be surprised. However, the findings presented in this
book – on the Israelization trend and the growing incorporation of east
Jerusalem Arabs in the municipal fabrics – easily jibe with the survey’s
findings.
Reality has a seductive power. A huge power. Forty-eight years of living together in one city have fostered a different mindset among the east Jerusalem Arabs, more modern and much more cognizant of reality. It is a very different mindset than that of the Arabs of the West Bank or Gaza. It stems from common patterns of life within the city, and also, to a great extent, from a plethora of economic and other advantages. These advantages are entailed by the resident status that the east Jerusalem residents maintain – a status and attendant benefits that the Arabs of the West Bank and Gaza do not maintain at all.
This study, however, also depicts a contrasting, worrisome process: 60 percent of the east Jerusalem Arabs who were polled in the summer of 2015 support an armed struggle against Israel, and Hamas is very popular among this group. On the one hand, the trend of acclimatization and intermingling advances. On the other, the political dispute over the future of the city, along with the rise of radical Islam and the antagonism toward the Palestinian Authority, which the Jerusalem Arabs charge with neglecting them, leads to phenomena of separation and confrontation, lightly armed and more lethal terror, and the popularity of Hamas.
...
And another large “asterisk”: Pollock’s survey also found that 90,000 east Jerusalem Arabs who have remained outside the “security fence” hold much more radical and hostile views than the east Jerusalem Arabs who have remained on the “Israeli side” of the fence. Among a segment of this population, the desire for Israeli citizenship, which was strong in the past, is now significantly weaker than among the east Jerusalem Arabs still “inside the fence.” A decade of neglect and unsuccessful policy toward this population by the municipal and governmental authorities has turned this area into a wasteland with the population as its denizens. These parts of north and east Jerusalem are today a focal point of crime, terror, and profuse traffic in weapons. The residents have become a kind of ticking bomb. They feel neglected both by Israel and the Palestinian Authority, and they seethe with bitterness and anger. This book proposes a plan of action for these areas and their population from which all can benefit. Israel’s policymakers would be wise to give it serious consideration.
Video: Matt Lee owns new State Department spokesperson John Kirby on Jerusalem
John Kirby just became State Department spokesperson last month and I can already tell you that he's no better than Marie Harf.
Watch him squirm as he tries to figure out US policy on Jerusalem while under questioning from @APDiploWriter Matt Lee about Monday's Supreme Court decision that Congress overstepped its bounds in trying to require the State Department to register Jewish children born in Jerusalem (like four of mine) as having been born in Israel.
Let's go to the videotape.
Keep making them feel uncomfortable Matt! They'll find a policy one of these days.
The court ruled 6-3 that Congress overstepped its bounds when it
approved the law in 2002. It would have forced the State Department to
alter its long-standing policy of not listing Israel as the birthplace
for Jerusalem-born Americans and listing only "Jerusalem."
The policy is part of the government's refusal to recognize any
nation's sovereignty over Jerusalem, until Israelis and Palestinians
resolve its status through negotiations.
Justice Anthony Kennedy said in his majority opinion that the
president has the exclusive power to recognize foreign nations, and that
the power to determine what a passport says is part of this power.
"Recognition is a matter on which the nation must speak with one voice. That voice is the president's," Kennedy wrote.
The ruling ends a 12-year-old lawsuit by a Jerusalem-born American, Menachem Zivotofsky, and his U.S. citizen parents.
Justice Antonin Scalia read a summary of his dissent from the bench,
saying the Constitution "divides responsibility for foreign affairs
between Congress and the president." Chief Justice John Roberts and
Justice Samuel Alito joined the dissent.
Justice Clarence Thomas agreed with the outcome of the case, but on narrower grounds.
If the Republicans win the White House, we will have some hope that this opinion becomes solely academic. But while this ruling was expected, it is certainly disappointing.
I was never a Trekkie but it was kind of hard to miss the passing of Leonard Nimoy (Star Trek's Mr. Spock) this weekend. Over the past few years, Nimoy has gotten a lot of positive press in the Jewish community for incorporating the Jewish priestly blessing sign into Star Trek (a fact that largely came to light due to the Obama campaign's use of the gesture as a 'sign of progress' in 2008).
Alas, there was another side of Nimoy which makes me think of him less fondly. In 2011, Nimoy wrote a letter calling for the division of Jerusalem.
The Americans for Peace
Now (APN) organization published Tuesday a letter written by actor
Leonard Nimoy, best known for his role as Spock in the original Star
Trek series and movies, in which the actor supports the establishment of
a two-state solution.
The 80-year-old actor called upon the American people to support the peace initiative.
"I reach out to you as someone who is troubled to see the conflict between Israelis
and Palestinians continue apparently without an end in sight," Nimoy wroe.
"In fact, there is an
end in sight. It's known as the two-state solution - a secure,
democratic Israel as the Jewish State alongside an independent
Palestinian state. Even Israel's nationalist Prime Minister Binyamin
Netanyahu, has come to see this as the shape of the future. The problem
is how to reach that end point. It's something we should be concerned
about - not only as world citizens, but as Americans."
He went on to write that he supports the division of Jerusalem,
mentioning 50 other prominent Israelis, including former heads of the
Mossad, the Shin Bet and the military who support a two-state solution.
"There is a sizable number of influential voices in Israel saying the
same thing… a call for two states for two nations. Their plan includes a
Palestinian state alongside Israel with agreed-upon land swaps. The
Palestinian-populated areas of Jerusalem would become the capital of
Palestine; the Jewish-populated areas the capital of Israel."
"I'm a strong supporter
of APN and the work it does," Nimoy wrote. "Peace Now's activities and
programs… keep peace on the world's agenda… Like those Israelis who
issued the peace plan, the members of Peace Now have their boots on the
ground. They serve in Israel's military reserves and see every day what
life is like without a negotiated peace with the Palestinians."
Our view has not changed. Terror attack at Paris Kosher market was motivated by anti-Semitism. POTUS didn't intend to suggest otherwise.
— Josh Earnest (@PressSec) February 10, 2015
So now Obama is trying to walk back his foolish statement that the Paris Kosher supermarket terror attack was a 'random' attack.
Does he really mean it?
Or was the outrage over such an obviously anti-Semitic and wrong statement too much for the Obama PR machine to leave it out there?
"Israeli sovereignty here [...] is the expression of the historic
link between a people and its land" Livni said during the ceremony,
evoking iconic memories of the IDF soldiers who entered the Western Wall
compound during the 1967 war."This holy
place, this historical place, this place to which our deepest recesses
are tied, will remain under Israeli sovereignty forever."
"Every time I'm at the Kotel," said Livni, "I see before my eyes the
paratroopers who cried then, during the liberation of Jerusalem, their
tears of excitement, of returning home. [...] Joy and excitement covered
us all, like a tallit of happiness that enfolded every Jew in Israel
and throughout the world."
Do you trust her not to give it up? Do you trust her to keep all of 'east' Jerusalem? Well, I don't.
For the sixth consecutive year, President Hussein Obama has proven that he doesn't understand - or chooses to ignore - what Chanukah is all about. This is Jeff Dunetz.
Wednesday, for the sixth time since taking office, President Obama
released a Hanukkah message that distorted the story of the holiday and
served his anti-Israel policy. In his message, Obama left out the most
essential part of the Maccabees victory: the recapture of Jerusalem and
the re-dedication of the Holy Temple atop what is now known as the
Temple Mount, a fact he's omitted every year of his presidency, and
something his predecessor George Bush mentioned in each of his Hanukkah
messages.
The liberation of Jerusalem and the cleansing of the Temple from the
Hellenistic idols and rituals is a most important part of the Hanukkah
story. In fact, the meaning of the name of the holiday in
Hebrew translates to the word "dedication" in English. A fact that,
unlike his predecessor, President Obama ignores in his
presidential Hanukkah statements.
Read the whole thing. When Obama doesn't like the narrative, he makes up a new one.
U.S. Solicitor General Donald Verrilli, who is rumored to
be in the running to replace outgoing Attorney General Eric Holder,
drew the comparison on Monday while he attempted to convince the Supreme
Court that Jerusalem is not officially part of Israel.
...
During Monday’s arguments before the court, Solicitor General
Verrilli maintained that a formal acknowledgment of Jerusalem being part
of Israel would be tantamount to the United States putting “Crimea,
Russia” on a citizen’s passport.
Verrilli was referring to the Ukrainian region of Crimea, which Russia forcefully seized earlier this year.
“The position of the executive [Obama] is that we recognize, as a
practical matter, the authority of Israel over West Jerusalem,” Verrilli
argued, according to court transcripts. “With respect to the rest of Jerusalem, the issue is far more complicated.”
“I do think, for example, Your Honor,” Verrilli said to Justice
Samuel Alito, “if [we] were to start issuing passports to people born in
Crimea tomorrow that identified Russia as the country of birth, that
would carry obvious implications for our foreign policy position, and it
would contradict the foreign policy position in a way that could be
quite deleterious.”
As with the disputes over Crimea’s status, stating that Jerusalem is
part of Israel also would interfere with the White House’s policy
positions, Verrilli argued.
I don't know in which hospital Menachem Zivotofsky was born, but every Jewish hospital in Jerusalem is in 'west' Jerusalem, with the exception of Hadassah Mount Scopus, which was part of an enclave that was within Israel between 1948-67. So even according to the administration's own arguments, we ought to be able to put "Jerusalem, Israel" on our children's US passports as their birth place.
He's grown up a bit since you last saw him, but the kid on the left is Menachem Zivotofsky, the plaintiff in Zivotofsky v. Kerry (formerly known as Zivotofsky v. Clinton, Zivotofsky v. Rice and probably one or two more I'm forgetting), and he was in court in Washington on Monday to hear his lawyers argue to put "Jerusalem, Israel" on his passport as his birthplace. Four of my eight children (including one Menachem's age) are similarly situated, although two of them were born before the law on which Menachem relies was enacted.
My bet is that, unfortunately, it's going to go 5-4 against us, with the Obama appointees carrying the day.
Liberal members of the court seemed to agree with the Obama
administration — and President George W. Bush before him — that the 2002
passport law embraces the interpretation that Jerusalem belongs to
Israel and therefore should be seen as an unconstitutional intrusion on
the executive branch’s role in setting the nation’s foreign policy.
Conservatives
seemed to endorse the view that Congress was simply enabling
“self-identification” of those born to Americans in the city, and that
it does not affect the recognition issue.
It appeared
that the outcome would be determined by Justice Anthony M. Kennedy. He
looked for a compromise — some version of a passport disclaimer by the
president — but also indicated that he believes the court must yield to
the executive branch in matters of foreign affairs.
Unless Kennedy changes his mind, I think we will lose this one.
Prosor to Security Council: 'Don't you have better things to do'?
Shavua tov, a good week to everyone.
Israeli Ambassador to the United Nations Ron Prosor spoke at the UN Security Council emergency session on
Jerusalem and accused the Palestinian Authority of incitement against
Jews in Jerusalem.. and lots more.
The State Department is denying reports that Martin Indyk is resigning as head of the US 'negotiating team' for the 'peace process' and that the team is being disbanded. The State Department says that Indyk has been recalled to Washington for 'consultations.'
The deputy spokesperson at the State Department, Marie Harf, told
reporters in Washington on Monday that it was “incorrect” to suggest
that Washington was dissolving its team of negotiators in the region.
Harf was responding to questions about reports in the Israeli press over
the weekend claiming that American officials held Israel primarily
responsible for the collapse in negotiations. According to the
Hebrew-language tabloid Yedioth Ahronoth, the Obama
administration viewed Israel’s refusal to consider a halt to settlement
construction so as to allow for one last chance to salvage the
negotiations as a key factor in their failure.
Harf, however, reiterated the official administration position which
held that both sides took steps that sabotaged chances of reaching an
agreement.
“On the Palestinian side, the appeal to 15 different treaties while
we’re actively working to secure a prisoner release, as well as the
announcement of the Fatah/Hamas reconciliation agreement at the moment
we were working for a formula to extend the negotiations, really
combined to make it impossible to extend the negotiations,” she said.
“On the Israeli side, large-scale settlement announcements, a failure to
release the fourth tranche of prisoners on time, and then the
announcement of 700 settlement tenders at a very sensitive moment,
really combined to undermine the efforts to extend the negotiations,”
Harf said. “So I would very much take notion with the fact that this was
just one side. Both sides did things here that were very unhelpful.”
Unpoof? No one in Israel to the right of Shimon Peres is going to negotiate with Hamas....
I am an Orthodox Jew - some would even call me 'ultra-Orthodox.' Born in Boston, I was a corporate and securities attorney in New York City for seven years before making aliya to Israel in 1991 (I don't look it but I really am that old :-). I have been happily married to the same woman for thirty-five years, and we have eight children (bli ayin hara) ranging in age from 13 to 33 years and nine grandchildren. Four of our children are married! Before I started blogging I was a heavy contributor on a number of email lists and ran an email list called the Matzav from 2000-2004. You can contact me at: IsraelMatzav at gmail dot com
