Opposition grows within the coalition to Netanyahu plan to expel Jews from Ulpana
Eli Yishai (Shas). Avigdor Lieberman (Yisrael Beiteinu). Yisrael Katz (Likud). Reuven Rivlin (Likud). Tzipi Hotovely (Likud). Otniel Schneller (Kadima). Yulia Shamalov-Berkovich (Kadima). All of these MK's - members of the coalition - have come out and announced that they will vote in favor of a bill that would circumvent the Supreme Court ruling that requires the government to destroy the Ulpana neighborhood in Beit El by July 1 (and Amona and Givat Assaf by August 1), and to expel the Jews currently living therein from their homes. If coalition discipline is invoked, Yishai, Lieberman and Katz could yet change their votes to preserve their seats in the government. But whether or not that happens it is not yet clear that Prime Minister Netanyahu, who opposes the bill, has the votes in the bag.
Netanyahu had indicated earlier that he might vote in favor of the bill if attorney-general Yehuda Weinstein would not approve a compromise allowing the five buildings of the controversial Ulpana outpost to be moved within the settlement Beit El.
Despite reports that Weinstein told the prime minister there would be legal problems with such a plan, Netanyahu said the attorney-general would defend his plan in court.
"We are a government that abides by the rule of law and strengthens settlement,” Netanyahu told the Likud faction. “There is no contradiction between the two. Even if the Court's decision is tough for some people, we must respect it.”
...
"The bill could be disqualified by the Court and cause problems internationally, which would result in the outpost being evacuated and damage to the entire settlement enterprise,” Netanyahu said. “We are bringing solutions that strengthen settlement. The alternative of passing this legislation would harm settlement.”
The prime minister said his solution is possible “practically, economically and legally.”
...
Netanyahu received support for his stance from his Likud colleagues, Vice Premier Moshe Yaalon and Education Minister Gideon Sa'ar, who announced today that they would oppose the bill.
But Knesset Speaker Reuven Rivlin said he would back the bill and Transport Minister Israel Katz said he would leave early from Europe to vote in favor. MK Tzipi Hotovely asked Netanyahu to enable ministers to vote their conscience on the issue rather than enforce coalition discipline.
“The law must be just, and an injustice should not be fixed by another injustice,” Rivlin said.
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Mofaz said he understood the pain of the settlers but the law must be kept. He added that “the bill would harm the Jews in Judea and Samaria, who are overwhelmingly there legally.”
But Kadima MKs Otniel Schneller and Yulia Shamalov-Berkovich said they would vote in favor of the bill. Whether the bill will pass could be determined by the votes of Likud, Yisrael Beyteinu and Shas ministers, which will not be decided until Netanyahu rules on whether coalition discipline will be enforced.
Netanyahu held a late-night meeting with Weinstein about the Ulpana Sunday. Weinstein reportedly told the prime minister that while many of the structures can physically be relocated, it is unclear whether he can endorse moving the structures to an area currently under the IDF's jurisdiction but considered disputed territory under international law.
YNet adds:
Yishai said in the Shas faction meeting that "after meeting with Rabbi Ovadia Yosef, the Shas faction has decided to support the law."
Lieberman said earlier Monday at a conference in Eilat that "we think that it is better to find a solution and not create a crisis. But if we can't find any reasonable arrangement, we will vote in favor of the settlement regulation bill. I support the prime minister's position that if a home in the West Bank is evacuated, 10 other homes will be built to strengthen the message that settlement in the West Bank can't be stopped by such tricks."
Knesset Speaker Reuven Rivlin also supports the settlement regulation bill. "This is a matter of conscience of the top priority," Rivlin said at a meeting of the Knesset leadership. The speaker also announced that the bill would be brought before the Knesset plenum for a vote on Wednesday.
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MK Tzipi Hotovely told her fellow Likud members "this is not a battle over five homes; it is a battle against the delegitimization of the settlement enterprise. Likud was burnt by the uprooting (of Jewish settlements) in Gush Katif."
What could go wrong?
Labels: Avigdor Lieberman, Beit El, Binyamin Netanyahu, Eli Yishai, Likud party, Otniel Schneller, outposts, Shas, Supreme Court
Kadima MK blasts J Street for not supporting Israel, demands that Olmert repudiate them
J Street, the pro-'Palestinian,' pro-Iran organization for Jews who believe that you can be 'pro-Israel' without supporting Israel, had a 'coup' last week when they landed former Prime Minister
Ehud K. Olmert to be the keynote speaker at their upcoming convention. Olmert, you will recall, is on trial on multiple corruption charges.
J Street got itself in hot water by
accusing Israel of killing '
over a dozen' civilians (out of 16 dead at the time) in Gaza. At the time, there had been no civilians deaths in the current fighting in Gaza (there have since been two).
J Street retracted, but that wasn't enough for the Kadima party's token religious revenant MK, Otniel Schneller.
He blasted them.
“At a time when a million Israeli citizens have been living in bomb shelters for four days and four nights, have not gone to school or work and anxiously await the next siren, the terrorists firing on them are getting encouragement and support, not just from Iran and Hezbollah, but also from the left-wing Jewish American organization J Street,” Schneller said in the Knesset plenum on Tuesday. “The anti-Israel and anti-ethical statement of J Street should serve as a warning for Israeli politicians and left-wing activists, including members of my party, against supporting and identifying with J Street, as they have done in the past,” he added.
Schneller also demanded that Olmert - who is also a member of Kadima -
cancel his trip.
MK Otniel Schneller (Kadima) called Tuesday for former Prime Minister Ehud Olmert to publicly distance himself from the far-left group “J. Street,” which has condemned Israel’s counter-terror activities in Gaza.
“While more than a million Israeli citizens have spent four days and nights in bomb shelters… the terrorists firing on them are getting encouragement and support not only from Iran and Hizbullah, but also from the Jewish-American leftist group ‘J Street,’” he said.
Olmert recently accepted an invitation to be a guest of honor at a J Street event, said Schneller. “I call on Mr. Olmert to repudiate this organization.”
I hope that Schneller doesn't seriously believe that Kaptain Korruption is going to cancel his one and only speaking engagement.
In the meantime, the rocket fire has resumed outright this morning, after most of the Negev's (southern Israel's) cities defied the IDF Home Command by disobeying their order to reopen the schools today. Sounds like the Mayors who made the decisions where right.
Labels: Ehud K. Olmert, Gaza, J Street, Otniel Schneller, rockets
'Loyal opposition' leader urges Obama to rape Israel
Remember David Landau, the Haaretz editor who urged US Secretary of State Condi Rice to
rape Israel? In an interview with Jeffrey Goldberg,
Israel's current opposition leader has urged Barack
Hussein Obama to do the same.
Q: You just suggested that when Obama pushed Netanyahu, people realized they needed to get a deal. Do you think that American pressure on Netanyahu has been constructive?
TL: When Obama pushed Bibi, Bibi made some steps forward. The American pressure led those who don't believe that time is of the essence to a better understanding that there is no status quo option. For Israelis, when they wake up in the morning and ask themselves, what is the general situation today, the litmus test for them is the health of the relationship between Israel and the United States.
By the way, she hates religious Jews too.
Read the whole thing. A sick mind....
Why is
Otniel Schneller still a member of her party?
Labels: Binyamin Netanyahu, Otniel Schneller, Tzipi Livni
Zoabi calls for third intifada
Balad MK Hanin Zoabi called for a
third intifada against Israel, and Kadima MK Otniel Schneller is calling once again for her Knesset immunity to be taken away.
Zoabi told a reporter that “I hope [the Palestinians] will start a large popular struggle that is political and strategic, similar to the first intifada and not the second.” She explained that “the second intifada was more violent, while the first was good. Tahrir Square in Egypt must be the new model for Arab youth – I would like them to initiate a popular struggle against the siege, because occupiers cannot expect to live normal lives.”
In response, Schneller said Zoabi should be stripped of her parliamentary immunity and put on trial for calling for rebellion.
“Zoabi crossed the line a long time ago, and democratic immunity cannot be allowed to continue to harm the State of Israel and its citizens,” he complained. “I intend to demand that Knesset legal advisor Eyal Inon probe her statements, and if there have in fact been calls to rebellion, to strip her immunity and try her.”
Zoabi was a passenger on the terrorist-sponsored Mavi Marmara last May, after which she was the subject of
some parliamentary sanctions but was not totally stripped of her parliamentary immunity.
Debbie Schlussel reports that the US is headed in the direction of
having Zoabi's in Congress and points to Representative (Jihad) Darrell Issa (R-Cal) as a prime example of a terror-supporting members of Congress (Issa supports Hezbullah). She also has Otniel Schneller pegged well.
Read it all.
Labels: Darrell Issa, Hanin Zoabi, Otniel Schneller
Knesset to investigate J Street
The Knesset’s Immigration, Absorption and Public Diplomacy Committee is to hold a meeting to debate the activities of J Street, the
pro-Israel, pro-peace pro-Obama, nominally Jewish lobby in the United States. The committee is chaired by Danny Danon, an up and coming Likud firebrand, so the fact that it's holding this hearing is not surprising. What is surprising is that the hearing is being undertaken at the initiative of
Otniel Schneller (pictured). Schneller is the token 'settler' in Kadima's Knesset delegation. Kadima has been the least hostile to J Street of any of Israel's Zionist parties.
Danon said that he plans to invite the MKs who participated in the J Street annual conference in late February, as well as Opposition Chairwoman Tzipi Livni, to testify before the committee.
"What really interests me are the mutual relations between the Jewish world and the State of Israel,” Schneller said, explaining why he brought the topic up for formal debate on the House floor. “The code that was broken is more serious than the content. The fact that J-Street fought against the sanctions that the United States wants to place against Iran is very, very serious in my eyes, as is the fact that they acted against the American veto.”
Schneller complained that “if they say that if Israel accepts our radical left-wing diplomatic positions, then we love Israel – it is a conditional love. If you don’t accept our ideas, then we will support Iran or the Palestinian Authority. I don’t want love like that. Don’t love me at all.”
“I asked for the hearing not because of the content of J Street’s beliefs, but because I want to look into the commitment of Jewish love and support for Israel. If they don’t love and support Israel, then they should not present themselves as pro-Israel,” Schneller said. “American Jewish groups, right or left, should understand that they should maintain full solidarity for Israel overseas – and when Tzipi Livni or Haim Oron become prime minister, I will demand the same loyalty from right-wing groups.”
It will be interesting to see whether and at what point Schneller comes under pressure from his own party to call off the show. Livni thinks J Street is wonderful so long as she is not in power.
Labels: Danny Danon, J Street, Otniel Schneller, pro-Israel pro-peace, Tzipi Livni
Eli Yishai (Shas). Avigdor Lieberman (Yisrael Beiteinu). Yisrael Katz (Likud). Reuven Rivlin (Likud). Tzipi Hotovely (Likud). Otniel Schneller (Kadima). Yulia Shamalov-Berkovich (Kadima). All of these MK's - members of the coalition - have come out and announced that they will vote in favor of a bill that would circumvent the Supreme Court ruling that requires the government to destroy the Ulpana neighborhood in Beit El by July 1 (and Amona and Givat Assaf by August 1), and to expel the Jews currently living therein from their homes. If coalition discipline is invoked, Yishai, Lieberman and Katz could yet change their votes to preserve their seats in the government. But whether or not that happens it is not yet clear that Prime Minister Netanyahu, who opposes the bill, has the votes in the bag. 
