Israeli Settlers: “Obama Anti-Semitic, Jew Hater”

Israeli Settlers: “Obama Anti-Semitic, Jew Hater”
Readers Number : 17

A collage set to be posted across Occupied territories by rightist group Hazit

04/06/2009 Some 130 protesters gathered in front of the American Consulate in occupied Jerusalem Wednesday afternoon to rally against U.S. President Barack Obama, who had just launched his Middle East tour.

The protesters chanted "No, You Can't" and waved posters saying "20 new 'settlements' by 2010 - Yes We Can!"

The US has demanded Israel stops building settlements in occupied territories.

"What right does anybody have to tell us to stop building in the land that was given to us by God? I'm not going to stand by and let Obama, or anybody else, tell me where I can live and where I can't live," said one Scottish-born settler.

Far right activist Itamar Ben-Gvir, who attended the protest, told Channel 10 that "it appears that we've arrived at a red line, which has already been crossed by the most anti-Semitic American president."

"We are launching a campaign against Barack Hussein Obama. He is bad for the people of Israel and for the state of Israel and his policies could bring about disaster. We expect our prime minister to say 'no' to anyone who tries to harm us," Ben-Gvir added.

Nadia Matar, the Belgian-born co-chair of Women in Green, which organized the event, made a point of repeatedly mentioning Obama' middle name, Hussein, because "we have to remind ourselves that he received an Islamic education in Indonesia."

"We are connected to our land like a mother is connected to her children," the well-known activist told reporters. "And I want to warn you: Don't mess with a Jewish mother who feels her children or her homeland are in danger. Every part and parcel and hilltop and stone in the Land of Israel is like one of our children. And we'e going to protect it like lionesses."

Eli Yishai On Eve of Obama Speech: We'll Expand Settlements
Readers Number : 23

04/06/2009 On the eve of US President Barack Obama's speech in Cairo, Interior Minister Eli Yishai announced Wednesday that he will respond to Obama's outreach to the Arabs by expanding West Bank settlements.

Yishai’s comments will further deteriorate US-Israeli ties, especially that Washington has been pressuring Israel to adopt a two state solution in occupied territories and to stop building settlements.

"We respect the United States and we want to maintain a positive relationship with the Americans, but we must stand up for our principles and we cannot accept dictates that the public cannot tolerate," Tishai told the Jerusalem Post.

In a meeting with leaders of Council of Jewish Communities, the Shas chairman said he invited them while Obama was in the region, because the US president's speech reinforced the need to consolidate Israeli society.

"The American policies are not coincidental and everyone must know that the bad situation will only get worse in the near future," Yishai told the settler leaders.

"I promise to use my ministry, all the resources at my disposal and the ministry's impact on local authorities for the good of expanding settlements," he said.

Yishai told the settler leaders that he would not tolerate the removal of even a single outpost in the West Bank.


Likud: Obama Crossed the Line into Interfering in Israeli Politics
Readers Number : 313

03/06/2009 Top Likud ministers and MKs said Tuesday that US President Barack Obama's administration's criticism of Israeli Prime Minister Binyamin Netanyahu's policies has crossed the line into interfering in Israeli politics.

Kadima officials responded to the allegations by disagreeing that the US was meddling but expressing concern that such a perception by the Israeli public would harm their party and end up strengthening the prime minister. They accused Netanyahu's associates of portraying Obama as an enemy of Israel in order to unite the public behind him.

The charges of American interference began April 16 when Israeli daily Yediot Aharonot quoted Obama's chief of staff Rahm Emanuel telling an unnamed Jewish leader: "In the next four years there is going to be a permanent-status arrangement between Israel and the Palestinians on the basis of two states for two peoples, and it doesn't matter to us at all who is prime minister."

Likud Minister-without-Portfolio Yossi Peled said Tuesday that the statement was inappropriate and was just one of many examples of American interference in Israeli politics since Netanyahu's election in February.

Vice Premier Moshe Ya'alon, also of the Likud, has accused Israeli Leftist groups of coaching Obama's administration on how to handle Netanyahu.

Netanyahu himself appeared to endorse that assertion when he told a Likud MK over the weekend: "What do they want from me? Do they want my government to fall?"

Israeli diplomatic officials were quoted in Ma'ariv on Tuesday accusing the Obama administration of attempting to force Netanyahu to bring Kadima into his coalition and adopt its policies on the Palestinian-state issue. "They are pressuring Livni to retreat from her opposition to joining Netanyahu's government, so she can enter it and prevent the worsening of relations with the US," a diplomatic official was quoted as saying.

Likud MK Danny Danon, who has close ties with Evangelical leaders in the US, was most blunt in his criticism of Obama. He said Obama refused to admit that the public in Israel chose a different direction, just like America did.

Information and Diaspora Minister Yuli Edelstein (Likud) rejected claims that the Obama administration was interfering, but he admitted that it did seem that way. "It looks like illegitimate interference in Israeli politics, but it isn't," he said. "The Obama administration is simply sending up trial balloons. They are testing Bibi to see how far he will bend."

Livni's associates said she succeeded in convincing former US secretary of state Condoleezza Rice to allow Israel to build in occupied West Bank settlement blocs, because Rice trusted her and realized Israel wasn't trying to change the facts on the ground. They said that Netanyahu, by contrast, failed to win Obama's trust and instead was campaigning against him in the Israeli media.

Meanwhile, Obama made a surprise appearance on Tuesday at a meeting Israeli Defense Minister Ehud Barak was holding in Washington, shortly before the U.S. leader was set to leave on a five-day trip to the Middle East.

Obama spoke for about 15 minutes with Barak, who was meeting with National Security Adviser General Jim Jones at the time. While Obama's official schedule did not include a meeting with Barak, he has in the past dropped into other officials' meetings with international figures.

Reports said that Obama intends to give Netanyahu four to six weeks to provide an "updated position" regarding construction in West Bank settlements and the two-state principle.

According to an official Israeli source, Obama wants to complete the formulation of a preliminary six-month plan for progress toward a Middle East peace agreement and to present it in July.

The U.S. special envoy to the Middle East, George Mitchell, will arrive in Tel Aviv next Monday night. He will meet with Netanyahu the day after in a bid to obtain clarifications regarding the U.S. demand to stop construction in the settlements and on the principle of two states for two peoples. Mitchell is to visit the Palestinian Authority on Wednesday to meet with Palestinian President Mahmoud Abbas.

Tensions between Israel and the U.S. are making pro-Israel Congress representatives uneasy. Last week 329 representatives sent a letter to Obama outlining the "right way" to peace in the Middle East, calling on Obama to be an honest broker and also a friend to Israel.