Pompeo rips Democrats' 'foolish position on Israeli settlements'

Arutz Sheva ^ | 17/12/19

[Eleutheria5]

Secretary of State Mike Pompeo pushed back Monday against congressional Democrats who demanded that the Trump administration retract its declaration last month that it views Israeli towns in Judea and Samaria as legal under international law.

In a letter..., the Secretary of State called Democrats’ positions against Israeli towns in Judea and Samaria “foolish”, Israel Hayom reported Monday night.

Last month, Pompeo announced that the State Department did not view Israeli towns in Judea and Samaria as being inherently illegal under international law, reversing the policy set down late in the Obama administration, mirroring the position adopted by the Carter administration four decades earlier.

Days later, 106 Democrats signed a letter written by Rep. Andy Levin condemning Pompeo’s declaration and demanding that the Trump administration reverse its position vis-à-vis Israeli communities in Judea and Samaria.

The decision, the signees argued, undermined America’s “moral standing,” and cited Article 49 of the Fourth Geneva Convention, a clause which is often cited by those arguing that Israeli towns in Judea and Samaria are illegal under international law.

On Monday, Pompeo fired back, writing that the 106 Democrats who signed onto the letter held “foolish positions”, adding that viewing Israeli towns in Judea and Samaria as illegal was not a long-established, bipartisan position in the US as Levin’s letter had claimed.

“You criticize the State Department’s determination that the establishment of Israeli civilian settlements in the West Bank is not categorically inconsistent with international law – a decision which you contend reverses ‘decades of bipartisan US policy on Israeli settlements,’” wrote Pompeo.

“You further argue, in conclusory fashion, that this determination ‘blatantly disregards Article 49 of the Fourth Geneva Convention. While I appreciate your interest in this important issue, I could not disagree more with those two foolish positions.”

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[Eleutheria5]

If you sprinkle water on every member of Congress, how many would melt? What would be their party affiliations? Bipartisan melting?

[faithhopecharity]

Good USA statement .. but they’re communities not settlements. (Settlements is a code word meant by enemies to
Imply somehow an air of illegitimacy.). At any event a helpful statement and the Jewish people will continue to build their homes and their homeland no matter any enemies or vocabulary. Smile smile smile.

[Savage Rider]

I love a good Pompeo smack down. He barely conceals his disdain for these pandering idiot Dims.

[DoodleDawg]

If you sprinkle water on every member of Congress, how many would melt?

About all of them.

[JGPhila]

What I find interesting, as a Jew, is that the letter was written by Andy Levin, a Jewish Congressman from Michigan. If I were cynical, I would think the Democrat brain-trust chose him to write the letter as a way of inoculating the party against a claim of anti-semitism. With Levin as the author, the anti-semites in the Squad are placated by the condemnation of the President for doing something pro-Israel, but the Democrat Left can pretend it does not hate Jews.

[faithhopecharity]

By coincidence, this article is running today -
http://www.israelnationalnews.com/Articles/Article.aspx/24888

[Does so]

To test the votes of American Jewry, maybe it’s time for Trump to send up a “trial balloon” for moving the embassy back to Tel Aviv.