Benjamin Netanyahu rebuffs Hillary Clinton demands

The Telegraph ^ | 3/19/2010 | Adrian Blomfield in Jerusalem and Andrew Osborn in Moscow

[bruinbirdman]

Benjamin Netanyahu, the Israeli prime minister, has refused to buckle to US pressure to scrap a Jewish building project in East Jerusalem in a crucial telephone conversation with America's top diplomat.

Mr Netanyahu ceded little ground to Hillary Clinton, the US secretary of state, as he finally responded to a series of conditions she set out to end a 10-day standoff between Israel and its superpower patron.

The Israeli leader gambled that the Obama administration had lost its appetite for a prolonged diplomatic row by accepting just one of Mrs Clinton's demands in full as he agreed to make a "confidence-building" gesture to the Palestinians.

He refused to cancel construction of 1,600 settler homes which lie at the heart of the crisis, offering instead to delay their construction - a proposal understood already to have been made and rejected.

A freeze on further settlement building in East Jerusalem, captured by Israel in 1967, was also ruled out. Instead, he reportedly proposed to continue building, but in secret.

In keeping with a decision to soften the tone of US rhetoric, Mrs Clinton was guarded in her response, neither welcoming nor dismissing Mr Netanyahu's suggestions.

"What I heard from the prime minister in response to the requests we made was useful and productive," she said, speaking after a meeting of the Middle East Quartet negotiating group in Moscow.

The Quartet - which comprises the United States, the United Nations, Russia and the European Union - however joined Mrs Clinton in forcefully condemning Israel's construction plans.

After the Quartet released a statement notable for its strongly-worded language, Sergei Lavrov, the Russian foreign minister, appeared to warn Israel it must comply with international demands.

"We are convinced that Israel will hear this and understand it in the right way. We will

[Bringbackthedraft]

and it’s extremely depressing to me that American Jews feel the need to side with them against the Jewish Homeland. ............................ Different Jews, The Israelis will die defending their country, The American Jews won’t be running over there to rescue them. They are made of different metal.

[mrsmel]

I have been realising over the past few years that being an American liberal Jew doesn’t automatically signify support of Israel, in fact I’ve been a bit surprised to learn that some are even “anti-Zionist”, and even more surprised to learn that there’s a small contingent of Israeli Jews who are “anti-Zionist”. I shouldn’t have been surprised, but I was. It just didn’t compute that Jews, especially israeli Jews, could possibly hold those views.

[orinoco]

All throughout the Presidential campaign we were told how this bunch of Obama socialist/progressives were going to improve our reputation with other countries? Looks like just the opposite is happening.

[samtheman]

I agree. It is a very surprising phenomenon.

[avoth]

“For all the negative thoughts I have about McCain I can’t imagine him being a Pali tool the way The One and the One-ess are.”

No argument.

“The point of my comment wasn’t really about the last election but about the Rat party in general. They always side with dictatorships and bullies — esp dictatorships and bullies who pick on Israel — and it’s extremely depressing to me that American Jews feel the need to side with them against the Jewish Homeland.”

And the point of my comment was that it didn’t matter. Liberals, including those who claim to be Jews, are embracing evil. Many who call themselves Conservatives or Republicans, are not doing enough to fight evil. This is predicted in the Bible. So the nations are gathering around Israel the nation instead of Israel the people with the same intent that they’ve had against Jews since the beginning. Perhaps now is the time that the end will come.

[avoth]

Here's something that illustrates my point. Deuteronomy 32 8. When the Most High gave nations their lot, when He separated the sons of man, He set up the boundaries of peoples according to the number of the children of Israel. 15. And Jeshurun became fat and rebelled; you grew fat, thick and rotund; [Israel] forsook the God Who made them, and spurned the [Mighty] Rock of their salvation. 16. They provoked His zeal with alien worship; they made Him angry with abominations deeds. 17. They sacrificed to demons, which have no power, deities they did not know, new things that only recently came, which your forefathers did not fear. 18. You forgot the [Mighty] Rock Who bore you; you forgot the God Who delivered you. 19. And the Lord saw this and became angry, provoked by His sons and daughters. 20. And He said, "I will hide My face from them. I will see what their end will be, for they are a generation of changes; they are not [recognizable] as My children whom I have reared. 21. They have provoked My jealousy with a non god, provoked My anger with their vanities. Thus, I will provoke their jealousy with a non people, provoke their anger with a foolish nation. Who fits the description more of a "non-people" than the so-called, "Palestinians"? And there is this.... 43. Sing out praise, O you nations, for His people! For He will avenge the blood of His servants, inflict revenge upon His adversaries, and appease His land [and] His people. The Liberal "Jews" are acting out their part, and if you read the entire Chapter you will see the calamities heaped upon the Children of Israel for their transgressions. For it is not only the liberal "Jews" who are at fault - it is all of us because we are supposed to be responsible for one another. That goes for people other than the Jews as well. So we provoke and are abandoned.