Historic declaration by Trump administration: Israeli villages in Judea/Samaria are not illegal
3 Comments Published by Avi Green on Tuesday, November 19, 2019 at 9:42 AM.
Secretary of state Mike Pompeo made a very significant announcement in Israel's favor:
Mike Evans wrote about this historic moment:
Update: Caroline Glick also praised the announcement.
In a historic reversal of US policy, the Trump administration announced on Monday that it does not view Israeli settlements in the West Bank as illegal. The policy change was announced by Secretary of State Mike Pompeo in Washington.One of things that makes this important is that it helps deal a rebuttal to the European Union court that recently declared that all Israeli products from Judea/Samaria must be labeled as such, which only served the purpose of the BDS movement. This US declaration, however, handily deals a blow to that offensive position in Europe, along with the BDS movement itself. Why, it even leaves Benny Gantz with far less of a platform, if he believes in negatives for Israel.
“After carefully studying all sides of the legal debate, this administration agrees with president Reagan,” Pompeo said in reference to Ronald Reagan’s position that settlements were not inherently illegal. “The establishment of Israeli civilian settlements in the West Bank is not per se inconsistent with international law.”
Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu praised Pompeo, saying “the United States adopted an important policy that rights a historical wrong when the Trump administration clearly rejected the false claim that Israeli settlements in Judea and Samaria are inherently illegal under international law.
“This policy reflects an historical truth – that the Jewish people are not foreign colonialists in Judea and Samaria. In fact, we are called Jews because we are the people of Judea.”
Mike Evans wrote about this historic moment:
Why is this a big deal? This is a major blow to the BDS movement, which calls to “boycott, divest and sanction” the State of Israel, in addition to being a snub to the recent call by the European Court of Justice to label products from Jewish businesses in Judea and Samaria. The court ruled that: “Foodstuffs originating in the territories occupied by the State of Israel must bear the indication of their territory of origin.”Well now it won't be so easy, and the US did state they were deeply concerned about a week ago. Following this news, Netanyahu approved a bill for annexing the Jordan valley today:
Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu gave his approval on Tuesday to advance a bill that would have Israel apply sovereignty to the Jordan Valley after the US State Department reversed its stance of viewing Israeli settlements in the West Bank as illegal. [...]It'll certainly be interesting to see if Benny Gantz's party is willing to support this, along with Liberman's party, and Labor. They'd do well to support the bill, if they really want to prove they respect history and safety for Israel.
Likud MK Sharren Haskel proposed the annexation bill weeks ago, but decided to fast-track it in light of the change in US policy.
“The bill has the prime minister’s full backing,” Haskel said. [...]
Haskel submitted a request to exempt her bill to annex the Jordan Valley from the mandatory six-week waiting period for any new legislation so that it can go to a vote in the plenum next week. The request will be subject to a vote in the Knesset Arrangements Committee, led by Blue and White MK Avi Nissenkorn while his party’s leader Benny Gantz has the mandate to build a government.
Haskel called on Blue and White, Yisrael Beytenu and Labor-Gesher to join the Likud’s efforts to annex the Jordan Valley, “in light of the one-time-only chance that we have before us” with US President Donald Trump’s administration.
“I call on them to stand behind their promises and words, and vote together with the Likud on applying sovereignty,” Haskel said. “There is no reason that this important bill won’t pass in the plenum with an 80-MK majority.”
Update: Caroline Glick also praised the announcement.
Labels: anti-semitism, dhimmitude, Europe, islam, Israel, Jerusalem, Knesset, political corruption, State Dept, United States, White House
Immanuel Kant [born in year 1724, died in year 1804]
referred to European Jews as “Palestinians living among us.”
SOURCE 1: Anthropology from a Pragmatic
Point of View (paragraph 46) by Victor Lyle Dowdell,
year 1978, Southern Illinois University Press in Carbondale
SOURCE 2: Defending Israel (chapter 1, page 20)
by Alan M. Dershowitz, year 2019, All Points Books,
ISBN-10: 1250179963 * ISBN-13: 978-1250179968
===================================
Harvard Law Professor Alan M. Dershowitz said:
“Had the leaders of the Arabs in Palestine accepted
the UN [United Nations] partition, there would have
been no refugee problem, as some Palestinian leaders*
have recently acknowledged.”
* NOTE: The footnote to this quote refers to a 2011
interview with Mahmoud Abbas, President of the Palestinian
Authority government, by Israel’s Channel 2 News.
SOURCE: Defending Israel (chapter 2, page 28)
by Alan M. Dershowitz, year 2019, All Points Books,
ISBN-10: 1250179963 * ISBN-13: 978-1250179968
Harvard Law Professor Alan M. Dershowitz said:
“Israel was unwilling to return to the pre-1967
borders, which made it extremely vulnerable to
attack – only 10 miles wide at its narrowest point,
and its north and south could easily be cut off.
It also did not want to see Syrian troops once
again on the Golan Heights, from which they had
fired munitions into the Israeli civilian areas* below.
The Arab states were unwilling to make
peace in exchange for anything except
Israel’s complete destruction.”
* HISTORICAL NOTE: Syrian troops used the
Golan Heights to fire munitions into Israeli
civilian areas, even during peacetime,
when there was no war being fought.
SOURCE: Defending Israel (chapter 3, page 48)
by Alan M. Dershowitz, year 2019, All Points Books,
ISBN-10: 1250179963 * ISBN-13: 978-1250179968
===================================
In 1970, King Hussein of Jordan
said to his people, in Arabic:
“Kill the Jews wherever you find them.
Kill them with your hands,
with your nails, with your teeth.”
The audience gasped.
They had never before heard the suave, gentle,
smiling King of Jordan speak in such genocidal terms.
SOURCE: Defending Israel (chapter 4, page 64)
by Alan M. Dershowitz, year 2019, All Points Books,
ISBN-10: 1250179963 * ISBN-13: 978-1250179968
PERSONAL NOTE:
Jordan is categorized as a moderate Arab country.
===================================
Harvard Law Professor Alan M. Dershowitz said:
“Documents discovered by Israeli troops during the
[1973 Yom Kippur War] war showed that Egyptian
General Saad el-Shazly had distributed written orders
to kill Israeli soldiers even after they surrendered.”
SOURCE: Defending Israel (chapter 6, page 90)
by Alan M. Dershowitz, year 2019, All Points Books,
ISBN-10: 1250179963 * ISBN-13: 978-1250179968
PERSONAL NOTE:
Egypt is categorized as a moderate Arab country.
Harvard Law Professor Alan M. Dershowitz said:
“The fighting [in the 1973 Yom Kippur War] was
ferocious, both in the Sinai and on the Golan Heights.
The Syrian front was far more dangerous for Israel,
because the Syrian Army was in close proximity to
Israeli civilian population centers --- and the Syrians
made no distinction between combatants and noncombatants.”
SOURCE: Defending Israel (chapter 6, page 89)
by Alan M. Dershowitz, year 2019, All Points Books,
ISBN-10: 1250179963 * ISBN-13: 978-1250179968
===================================
Harvard Law Professor Alan M. Dershowitz said:
“[Menachem] Begin’s surprise victory [in 1977,
when he became 6th Prime Minister of Israel]
turned many American liberals and labor
supporters against the Israeli government,
and some even against the State of Israel.”
SOURCE: Defending Israel (chapter 6, page 99)
by Alan M. Dershowitz, year 2019, All Points Books,
ISBN-10: 1250179963 * ISBN-13: 978-1250179968
===================================
Harvard Law Professor Alan M. Dershowitz said:
“The hard-Left, as usual, gave [Yasser] Arafat
a pass on his personal involvement in the
murder of innocent civilians, as well
as on his refusal to condemn terrorism.
As is all too typical of the hard-Left,
they tolerate all manner of human rights
violations by anti-Israel and anti-American
tyrants, while railing against even
the most minor deviations from perfection
by the Western democracies.”
SOURCE: Defending Israel (chapter 7, page 105)
by Alan M. Dershowitz, year 2019, All Points Books,
ISBN-10: 1250179963 * ISBN-13: 978-1250179968