UPDATES 9:00 am Israel time, Thursday, October 2 2014:
**One of President Obama’s senior advisors, Ben Rhodes, was on Israeli television last night being interviewed a reporter from Channel 10. Your humble servant found one of his answers particularly interesting.
When asked if Israel has ready access to American weapons deployed in a “forward capacity” throughout Israel, Rhodes replied that the same rules of access apply as always did–as long as Israel is not at war with Hamas in Gaza.
As long as Israel is not at war with Gaza.
The Obama Administration is still trying to hold Israel hostage and force its worldview down Israel’s throat. By the way, this comment came on the same day that the Obama Administration announced a $1.7 billion dollar arms deal with Saudi Arabia.
**While the White House’s Rhodes was busy informing Israel that it could not expect any help of an “offensive nature” should Israel be forced to attack Hamas again, the State Department’s Jen Psaki was busy condemning Israel for planning to build 2500 apartments in Givat Hamatos.
The vile Psaki could not find enough words for her condemnations:
“This development will only draw condemnation from the international community, distance Israel from even its closest allies, poison the atmosphere not only with the Palestinians but also with the very Arab governments with which Prime Minister (Benjamin) Netanyahu said he wanted to build relations . . . and call into question Israel’s ultimate commitment to a peaceful negotiated settlement.”
Whew! Is that all Jen?
Your humble servant truly wonders if Psaki or Kerry think that Israel gives a whit what they think. Shortly after Psaki spoke, PM Netanyahu issued this declaration–one that was seconded by Jerusalem Mayor Barkat this morning:
“As Prime Minister of Israel, I do not understand the criticism – Arabs in Jerusalem buy apartments and no one bothers them or rules them out. By the same token, I’m not going to say to Jews not to buy in Jerusalem, including in Silwan – we cannot have discrimination – this approach is unacceptable to me. It is the right of Jews to buy an apartment in Jerusalem – I stand firm by my decision, there will not be a situation where Jews will not be able to buy an apartment in Jerusalem.
TODAY’S BLOG:
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Note: The City of David, Ir David, refers to the narrow hilltop ridge that runs to the south of the Dung Gate of the Old City. It is the location where King David built his palace and established his capital. In today’s Jerusalem, it is located in the Shiloach neighborhood–known to the Arabs as Silwan (for a history of this area, read your humble servant’s “Silwan’: Reclaiming Israel One Visitor’s Center At A Time”)
The City of David is located on the top of the hill in the foreground just to the south of the Temple Mount and west of the small valley.
In the above quotation from PM Netanyahu, he was not only referring to the building of apartments in Givat Hamatos, he was also referring to the purchase of 23 residential apartments in the Shiloach neighborhood–many of which are in the City of David area–by an American company, Kandel Finance. More than 200 Jews have been in the process of moving in since Tuesday night.
The apartments, which are located in ten different buildings throughout the neighborhood, were purchased over the last 3 years by Kandel, a company that works closely in cooperation with the Elad Association that oversees the Ir David (city of David) complex.
Each one of the apartments was legally purchased from Palestinians by Kandel–at exorbitant prices. Even the Palestinians grudgingly acknowledge that the transactions were completely legal and above board and have condemned the Palestinians who sold the apartments.
The comments coming from Israeli, Arab, and international NGOs has been unsurprising yet astonishing. The Wadi Hilweh Center denounced the “settler attack” and issued this unbelievable statement: “Even if those apartments were sold, it is still an illegal process of taking-over Arabs’ houses conducted by Elad . . .”
Legally sold, but illegal.
Saeb Erekat, chief Palestinian “negotiator”, ranted that the Israeli government is attempting to erase the “Palestinian identity”: “It serves the objective of altering the character of Jerusalem through isolating, containing and confining Palestinian existence, allowing for more Israeli land-grabs.”
Have we now reached a point when legal purchases are land grabs? Never mind that Arabs are free to buy all the apartments they want to in any part of Jerusalem, Erekat and his international friends demand that the Shiloach neighborhood be Jew-free.
What is significant about families that moved into apartments in the City of David over the last 48 hours is that for the first time in some 2000 years, there is a Jewish majority in the City of David.
That is cause to celebrate!
A student from Malawi, who had worked with an Israeli health volunteer in his country battling AIDS, came up to us as we walked down the street in the UC-Davis Picnic Day Parade and wanted to carry the Israeli flag.