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United States Secretary of State Hillary Clinton said on Friday that the Obama administration's decision to ramp up pressure on Israel over construction of Jewish homes in East Jerusalem was bringing results. In an interview with BBC television, Clinton was asked whether escalating the tone with Israel had paid off. She said: "I think we're going to see the resumption of the negotiation track and that means that it is paying off because that's our goal." Advertisement Over the past two weeks Israel has sought to cool American ire over plans for 1,600 new homes in Ramat Shlomo, a Jewish...

Obama himself claims that he has launched a political war against Israel in the interest of promoting peace. But this claim, too, does not stand up to scrutiny. On Friday, Obama ordered Secretary of State Hillary Clinton to present Netanyahu with a four-part ultimatum. First, Israel must cancel the approval of the housing units in Ramat Shlomo. Second, Israel must prohibit all construction for Jews in Jerusalem neighborhoods built since 1967. Third, Israel must make a gesture to the Palestinians to show them we want peace. The US suggests releasing hundreds of Palestinian terrorists from Israeli prisons. Fourth, Israel must...

Senior ministers on Thursday vowed that Israel would issue a "strong" response after a rocket fired by Palestinian militants in the Gaza Strip killed a migrant worker in the south earlier in the day. Deputy Defense Minister Matan Vilnai declared Hamas responsible for the rocket that hit Moshav Nativ Ha'asara, even though it was not launched by militants from the ruling movement. Deputy Premier Silvan Shalon vowed that "the the Israeli response will be appropriate. It will be strong," adding: "This is a crossing of the red line, which Israel cannot accept. It was the first deadly rocket attack since...

Amazing as it would seem, by all appearances the Obama Administration is angrier at Israel for building houses for Jews than it is at Iran for building a nuclear weapon intended to kill Jews. Mahmoud Ahmadinejad is undoubtedly grinning from ear to ear. And why shouldn't he? When he and the Mullahs crushed the streets protests after last year's fraudulent Iranian elections; President Obama proclaimed it wasn't America's place to meddle. Meanwhile, Israel doesn't need to fire a single shot. It doesn't even need to break ground. All Israel had to do was to merely announce plans to build new...

President Obama's health care plan is swirling the drain. Americans don't like it -- the latest Rasmussen poll has just 43 percent of Americans in favor, with 53 percent opposed -- and that dislike has the Obama administration suggesting that polls don't actually mirror the will of the American people. "They're waiting for us to act," Obama told a crowd in Ohio on Monday. "They don't want us reading polls. They want us to look and see what is the best thing for America." This is paternalism of the highest order -- he knows what's better for us than we...

Remember, last June, when President Obama told reporters that it was “not productive” for the U.S. to be “meddling” in the affairs of a certain Middle Eastern country? Obama’s diplomatic deference inaugurated six months of silence after Iran’s sham elections. By the time the White House got around to “strongly condemn[ing]” the bloody crackdown against protestors, the nascent “green revolution” was in retreat, and Iran’s maniacal president – Mahmoud Ahmadinejad -- was bragging about how close he was to developing nuclear weapons. Obama is showing he has far fewer reservations about meddling in the domestic affairs of another Middle Eastern...

It took awhile, 14 months to be exact, but both the ADL and AIPAC have issued very solid statements condemning the President's new verbal war on Israel, and asking for the Administration to curtail the public berating of its supposed ally, and work with Israel in a more diplomatic fashion on both the peace process and Iran. What is disgraceful is that so far, exactly one elected Democrat in Congress has done the same: Congresswoman Shelley Berkley of Nevada. Sadly, Democrats seem to care far more about passing health care legislation this week, than protecting the US-Israel relationship from Obama's...