Free Republic

In declaring that it is time for Middle East peace "without preconditions," President Obama used his speech to the U.N. General Assembly Wednesday to fire a warning at Israel that "America does not accept the legitimacy of continued Israeli settlements." Obama's stark declaration, which drew applause, was coupled with a call for Palestinians to end their "incitement of Israel." But it was the use of the U.N. forum to carry the settlement message to Israel that drew the most enthusiastic response on the floor -- and incredulous reaction outside its walls. Obama just put Israel "on the chopping block," said...

There was only one reason that yesterday was the first meeting between Netanyahu and Abba since the Israeli Election, President Obama's screw-up. What the President and his advisers perceived as a minor concession, a settlement freeze, was not perceived by Israel as a minor one. This was a major error by Obama. And when he added Jerusalem to his demands it just compounded the situation. His insistence for a freeze and the constant public berating of the Jewish State has turned the Israeli population against Obama, and increased the support of Prime Minister Netanyahu even with the Israeli left, no...

Ahead of the Obama administration's first U.S.-Palestinian-Israeli summit, Israel has agreed to a partial freeze of settlement construction for six to nine months but still wants to build more than 2,500 new housing units, said Israeli officials... The private Israeli position, which was described by these three individuals on the condition that they not be named, is at odds with the public stance Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu has taken... What the Israelis are offering is still shy of Mr. Obama's demands. The two Israeli officials and the Israel specialist said Mr. Netanyahu wants to move forward with 2,500 to 3,000...

JERUSALEM (AP) - Israel defied U.S. pressure to halt construction in its West Bank settlements Sunday, with key leaders speaking out in support of the contentious enclaves and preparing to sign orders to allow building of hundreds of new housing units there. Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu and Defense Minister Ehud Barak are expected to approve orders for about 500 new apartments Monday, said Israeli officials, speaking on condition of anonymity because the plans have not been finalized.

be his friend in return for a freeze on building for Jews in Judea, Samaria and eastern Jerusalem, according to Politco.com editor Ben Smith. The relationship between the two leaders has been termed as chilly even before they met in Washington earlier this year. "Netanyahu’s at a pivotal moment,” a senior U.S. official told Smith. “Depending on what he decides, he could wind up with a very strong relationship with President Obama and potentially become a historic figure in Israel." Ron Dermer, spokesman for the Prime Minister, declined to comment on the report.

President Obama's Middle East policy is in ruins. While the US continues to press Israel for a settlement freeze (and now a freeze on Jerusalem) his strategy is falling apart piece by piece. He has turned the Israeli populace against him and strengthened the hand of Prime Minister Netanyahu. At the same time he has eroded his own support among American Jews and other US friends of Israel. The Arab League nations answered no to the Presidents request for a peace gesture and the President of the Palestinian Authority uses Obama's settlement pressure as his "out" from re-entering negotiations. What...

Prime Minister Binyamin Netanyahu will return from his European trip to find that two Likud rallies have been organized to express opposition to the settlement freeze he reportedly negotiated with US envoy George Mitchell in London. The first, scheduled for Tuesday at Tel Aviv's Azrieli Tower, was organized by Minister-without-Portfolio Yossi Peled. It is not officially an anti-Netanyahu rally but rather a "pro-Jerusalem event," and yet MKs who attend are expected to bash the deal the prime minister is negotiating with the Americans. The second, set for September 9 at the Likud's Tel Aviv headquarters, openly opposes any freeze on...

Barack Obama has been able to do something that now Israeli politician was able to do, unify the Israeli public. Of course the public is unified by their mistrust of the US President. And that mistrust continues to grow. In early June two polls were released that showed the "Israeli on the street" feels that President Obama is bad for Israel. One poll reported that by more than a 2 to 1 margin Israelis believe that Obama's policies are bad for Israel. The other from The Fanis Research Institute, goes even further, it said that 59% of the Israeli public...

BERLIN (Reuters) - German Chancellor Angela Merkel on Thursday raised the pressure on Israel to freeze its settlement building program and resume the Middle East peace process. "We must make progress in the peace process ... and a stopping of the settlement (building) is very important," Merkel said at a joint news conference with Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu in the German capital. "Time is of the essence," she added.

Netanyahu on Wednesday presented a proposal for resolving the ongoing Israeli-American dispute over construction in the settlements. In a meeting with Mitchell, Netanyahu suggested a temporary freeze, reportedly for nine months, on construction in the West Bank, a government source said. Netanyahu also said that Palestinian Authority President Mahmoud Abbas' reported willingness to meet with him was "a positive first step." The Americans are slated to respond to Netanyahu's proposal at a meeting in Washington next week between Mitchell and two Israeli officials: Netanyahu's envoy, attorney Yitzhak Molcho, and Defense Minister Ehud Barak's chief of staff, Brig. Gen. Mike Herzog....

A pro-Israel lobby group in the U.S. has launched a project intent on shifting the focus of the Obama administration away from West Bank settlements, claiming they are not an obstacle to peace and that their evacuation would amount to "ethnic cleansing." A manual called Global Language Dictionary, circulated among supporters of the right-wing Israel Project group, seeks to develop a strategy to downplay the centrality of settlement freeze in the American efforts to press on with the peace process between Israel and the Palestinians. Developed in conjunction with the high-profile Republican pollster Frank Luntz, the document was drawn up...

There is an old proverb that compares the Jewish People to an egg. You place the egg on a cold frying pan and it spreads out, you turn on the heat and it gets hard and pulls together. What the President and his advisers perceived as a minor concession, a settlement freeze, was not perceived by Israel as a minor one. This was a major error by Obama. And when he added Jerusalem to his demands it just compounded the situation. His insistence for a freeze and the constant public berating of the Jewish State has turned the Israeli population...

Tending Someone Else’s Garden by Norma Zager “This land is mine. God gave this land to me…” Theme from Exodus These words of the theme from the movie Exodus bring a tear to the eye of any Zionist. Ironic they were written by a Christian. Penned by American icon Pat Boone, they have become the battle cry for Israel’s right to survive. Boone’s deeply heartfelt belief in the Bible and the words contained in both Testaments provide true insights into the Christian commitment to Israel as the homeland of the Jewish people. “God gave this land to me” connotes the...

Just a day after the House Majority Leader Steny Hoyer penned an op-ed with his boss, Nancy Pelosi telling Americans that disagreeing with the President is unpatriotic, Hoyer turned up in Israel and amazingly he disagreed with the President's one sided, anti-Israel Middle East Policy. It is interesting to point out that Hoyer, a Baptist, showed support for Israel and independence from the POTUS' Middle East strategy, that you would never see coming from the supposedly pro-Israel National Jewish Democratic Council. While in Israel today Hoyer said that too much attention has been put on the settlements and that Jerusalem...

A senior Israeli diplomat said that his government's row with the White House over Jewish settlements in the West Bank was causing strategic damage to the country's relationship with the United States. The unusual rebuke came from an internal memo by Nadav Tamir, Israel's General Consul in Boston that was leaked to the Channel Ten, an Israeli television station. In the memo Mr Tamir wrote that the high-profile dispute over a settlement freeze was causing Israel great harm. "Nowadays, there is a sense in the United States that Obama is being forced to deal with obduracy from the governments of...

If you ask the propagandists at J-Street, the NJDC, or within the White House itself, most Israelis support President Obama as a fair mediator for Middle East peace. Of course if you ask Israelis, Baarack Obamas one sided anti-Israel rants about settlements and Jerusalem convince them that the American President would throw them under the nearest bus the first chance he gets. The latest War and Peace Index poll conducted by the University of Tel Abiv reveals that almost two thirds of the Israeli public feel that President Obama is anti-Israel, the majority of Israeli public thinks sovereignty over Jerusalem...

This is my first posting, I hope it goes well!

JERUSALEM (AP) - Israeli police evicted two Palestinian families in east Jerusalem on Sunday, then allowed Jewish settlers to move into their homes, drawing criticism from Palestinians, the United Nations and the State Department. Police arrived before dawn and cordoned off part of the Arab neighborhood of Sheikh Jarrah before forcibly removing more than 50 people, said Chris Gunness, spokesman for the U.N. agency in charge of Palestinian refugees. U.N. staff later saw vehicles bringing Jewish settlers to move into the homes, he said. Israeli police cited a ruling by the country's Supreme Court that the houses belonged to Jews...

Prime Minister Binyamin Netanyahu has denied calling White House Chief of Staff Rahm Emanuel and senior Obama advisor David Axelrod “self-hating Jews." Whether or not the Prime Minister used the term, increasing criticism by American Jews of U.S. President Barack Obama signals a split in the American Jewish community. Emanuel has pushed the president into a head-on collision with the Netanyahu government, but there is a growing opinion that he has also left the president out on a limb.

Beginning tomorrow, a parade of four Obama administration officials are coming to visit for a series of meetings with Israeli Officials. The purposes of the meetings are to twist Israel's arm regarding the disagreement over the adding home to existing settlements and to make sure that Israel doesn't try and destroy Iran's growing nuclear capacity First up is George Mitchell, the special U.S. envoy to the Middle East, He will meet with Defense Minister Ehud Barak on Sunday and with Prime Minister Binyamin Netanyahu on Tuesday.