EU 'diplomats' become foreign provocateurs
On Friday, a group of IDF soldiers clashed with a group of foreign activists who were attempting to help 'Palestinians' rebuild a village that had been demolished on orders of the Supreme Court earlier this week. The activists included European 'diplomats' including one loud-mouthed French woman who accused the IDF of violating her '
human rights.'
Homes in the Palestinian Beduin community of Khirbet Al-Makhul were
originally demolished earlier this week after the High Court of Justice
ruled that they did not have proper building permits.
The IDF
prevented activists from putting up new tents on Friday and confiscated
equipment used to raise the makeshift settlement.
The IDF
spokesman's office said that security forces encountered rock throwing
and used riot dispersal methods in handling the incident. Three
Palestinians were arrested and the area was declared a closed military
zone.
A Reuters reporter saw soldiers throw sound grenades at a
group of diplomats, aid workers and locals, and yank a French diplomat
out of the truck before driving away with its contents.
"They
dragged me out of the truck and forced me to the ground with no regard
for my diplomatic immunity," French diplomat Marion Castaing said.
"This is how international law is being respected here," she said, covered with dust.
The
IDF stated that "reports that foreign diplomats abused their diplomatic
privileges are currently being reviewed, and if required, complaints
will be filed with the relevant authorities."
Read the whole thing.
The picture above was released by the IDF after European media claimed that an IDF soldier pointed a gun at Castaing.
And how did Castaing wind up on the ground? Well she got there by herself but not until after - at the 0:53 mark of the videotape below - you'll see her land a punch to an IDF soldier's jaw.
Let's go to the videotape (from Iran's Press TV of all places).
On its
official blog, the IDF has the following to say:
The photo used to spread this misinformation was taken as a screenshot
from a video with footage clearly showing that Marion Castaing was
neither physically dragged to the floor nor had guns pointed at her.
Also, the photo clearly shows that the officer is holding his gun by the
magazine, nowhere near the rifle’s grip.
Kind of reminds you of this scene, doesn't it?
Sorry folks, but diplomatic immunity doesn't give you the right to go around committing crimes in the host country. Ask
Dominique Strauss-Kahn. It doesn't give you a license to interfere with the host country's army or law enforcement, and you do so at your own risk. I'd bet on an attempt to have Castaing declared persona non grata and deported back to France. Good riddance.
In case you missed it in the video, here's the screen shot of the punch:
Labels: building permits, diplomatic immunity, European anti-Semitism, European Union, France, IDF, Supreme Court
Court effectively tells government to issue building permits for Itamar
An Israeli court has effectively told the government that it must
issue building permits for the village of Itamar - because the Housing Ministry represented that it had them.
The plaintiffs, families from Itamar, argued in court that they lived in the homes and when they wanted to purchase them the bank requested that they present a building permit so that they could obtain a mortgage, and only then did they discover that there were no building permits because of the lack of zoning.. The plaintiffs’ attorney, Doron Nir Zvi, claimed that the purchase contract states that the house was built according to the planning and building laws in Judea and Samaria.
The housing and development company argued that it had not checked out the planning situation when it got the homes from the Housing Ministry, and that obtaining building plans today is a very complex issue because it is a political and diplomatic one, and is not under the authority of the housing and development company.
In his decision, Judge Yair Dlugin ordered the housing and development company to contact the relevant state bodies in order to obtain a detailed and reasoned reply in writing as to why there are no zoning plans allowing building permits for the homes purchased by residents in Itamar.
“Since there is no dispute that the plaintiffs live there and have acquired the rights to live there through signed agreements with the defendant, it is inconceivable that they will continue to live there without building permits being issued,” wrote Judge Dlugin. “It does not seem to me that there is any justification for this, not even one grounded by politics.”
Read the whole thing.
I challenge you to find me another country in the (Western) world where these kinds of shenanigans go on.
Labels: Binyamin Netanyahu, building permits, Ehud Barak, Itamar
The blame game
I can recall traveling to the Jewish neighborhood of Ramot (also known as Ramot Alon) in 1978. There was not an Arab in sight. At the time, Ramot was small - today it is much larger. But the closest Arab village is barely in sight and only from a small portion of Ramot. The neighborhood is huge.
Har Homa (also known as Homat Shmuel) was opened in 1996, and today houses over 4,000 families. It was built on vacant land on the southern outskirts of the city. Along with Ramat Shlomo, it is the only large-scale, reasonably priced (i.e. non-luxury) housing built in Jerusalem since the 1980's. We have a severe housing shortage in Jerusalem.
On Friday, an approval was granted for an additional 1,300 housing units in Ramot and Har Homa. It doesn't mean that construction will start tomorrow. It could take months or even years. And once construction of a new neighborhood starts, it's usually 2-3 years until people start moving in. Nevertheless, the US, the 'Palestinians' and the Europeans are making noise about Israel approving new construction in these neighborhoods in Jerusalem, which under any 'final settlement' scenario discussed before President Obama took office have been included in Israel.
The response should be, "Jerusalem is our capital city, these are existent Jewish neighborhoods in the city and there is nothing to be discussed here. We always said explicitly that we would not freeze building in Jerusalem." But instead, government ministers are playing the
blame game and trying to set each other up as the fall guy.
Mr. Netanyahu is in New Orleans to address the Jewish Federation of North America's General Assembly. On Sunday, he met with Vice President Joseph Biden in the city.
A similar announcement during Mr. Biden's visit to Jersualem last year, of Israel's intentionplan to build 1,600 units in another East Jerusalem development, plunged U.S.-Israel ties into one of its worst crises in decades.
After that incident, which Mr. Netanyahu said occurred without his prior knowledge, the prime minister's office quietly put out orders to government bureaucrats that any housing announcements in East Jerusalem required the approval of Mr. Netanyahu's military attaché, Maj. Gen. Yochanan Locker, said Jerusalem municipality officials and Western diplomats.
Mr. Netanyahu's office signed off on the latest settlement announcement, a senior Jerusalem municipality official said. A senior aide to Mr. Netanyahu declined to comment on whether or not the prime minister had known about the announcement ahead of time.
"Nothing in East Jerusalem can be approved before the prime minister's office approves it," said the official. "That's the regulations since the last Biden visit."
The Ministry of Interior, which is responsible for advancing planning for new housing units, is controlled by Eli Yishai, head of the religious Shas Party. Mr. Yishai is facing an internal challenge to his leadership of the party and analysts say he is trying to fend off that challenge by advocating increasingly hard-line positions.
YNet
adds:
An Israeli official addressed the US criticism of east Jerusalem housing construction permits, saying that "There is no doubt that the finger of blame is pointed at Eli Yishai and the Interior Ministry. They are the ones responsible for announcing the permits."
The official also noted that as per an earlier agreement between Interior Minister Yishai and Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu, the announcement was to be made on October 20, but for some reason it was postponed until this past weekend. "The timing is unusual, no doubt, but it is uncertain that the announcement was made intentionally on this date," said a minister who did not want to be identified. "It is not impossible that it was made as result of inattention and carelessness."
But an assignment of blame is not what's called for here. No one should be apologizing.
I should add that the Wall Street Journal (the first link) throws two very subtle digs into its article that display the reporter's bias against Israel. This is the first one:
Today, Har Homa is home to more than 4,000 Jewish families and is often cited by Palestinians as one of the most egregious examples of how Israel continued massive settlement construction even at the height of the Oslo peace process and one of the reasons why they are today so insistent on a full freeze on settlement building.
What you're not being told here is that nothing in the Oslo accords requires Israel to freeze 'settlement construction.' That came up during the negotiations, Israel refused and the 'Palestinians' signed the agreements anyway. They have no right to come back and try to renegotiate them after the fact.
The second indicator of bias in the Journal article is the picture, which is not of Har Homa, Ramot or anyplace else in Jerusalem. It's Kiryat Arba. While I am in favor of building in Kiryat Arba, many Israelis are not and many Israelis would (unfortunately, in my opinion) give it away to the 'Palestinians.' But whatever the case, Kiryat Arba is not Jerusalem. Jerusalem is not a 'settlement.'
Labels: building permits, Har Homa, Jerusalem, Oslo accords, Ramot, settlement freeze
Yes, we're a banana republic
In response to a parliamentary question from MK Arye Eldad (National Union), Housing Minister Ariel Atias of Shas admitted on Wednesday that we're a banana republic. All of our building permit decisions for Jerusalem are
made in Washington.
And you thought we were a modern 21st century democracy....
Labels: Arieh Eldad, Ariel Atias, banana republic, building permits, Jerusalem
.jpg)
