I go away for a week, and JoeSettler can't even manage to hold down the fort.
A short vacation...that's it...and I come back to find out that under tremendous pressure from US President Obama, Israel's government has been forced into freezing all (Jewish) building activity in Yehuda vShomron(WestBank), my own home included.
As a law abiding citizen and taxpayer, as an IDF soldier in the reserves, as an active volunteer medic, I find it abhorrent that US President Obama has forced Israel into freezing all building activity, to the point that I can't even add on to my home. Not even enclose a porch, or add a room.
It's not zoning that's the issue -- rather the government has banned all construction, expansion, and extension -- at the behest of US President Obama, making everything, "illegal."
US citizen tax money was hard at work this past Thursday and Friday, as US personnel drove around settlements throughout the West Bank videoing the current status of buildings so as to help enforce the "freeze."
Defense Minister Ehud Barak added his share of wasted tax money, by sending IAF jets on Friday to scour the settlements from the sky taking detailed high quality photographs of settlements, to ensure not a room, garage or shed is built, no roads or driveways are paved, and not even a patio is poured.
It continued today (JPOST)
Obama must have really turned the thumbscrews on Israel's government for them to implement such a racist, anti-Zionist policy -- and he most probably threatened Israel's very survival via our ability to attack Iran's nuclear program, conditioned on a "goodwill" gesture to Palestinians -- hence the "freeze."
We've survived previous freezes before, and we'll survive this one, Obama, and even Netanyahu as well.
A short vacation...that's it...and I come back to find out that under tremendous pressure from US President Obama, Israel's government has been forced into freezing all (Jewish) building activity in Yehuda vShomron(WestBank), my own home included.
As a law abiding citizen and taxpayer, as an IDF soldier in the reserves, as an active volunteer medic, I find it abhorrent that US President Obama has forced Israel into freezing all building activity, to the point that I can't even add on to my home. Not even enclose a porch, or add a room.
It's not zoning that's the issue -- rather the government has banned all construction, expansion, and extension -- at the behest of US President Obama, making everything, "illegal."
US citizen tax money was hard at work this past Thursday and Friday, as US personnel drove around settlements throughout the West Bank videoing the current status of buildings so as to help enforce the "freeze."
Defense Minister Ehud Barak added his share of wasted tax money, by sending IAF jets on Friday to scour the settlements from the sky taking detailed high quality photographs of settlements, to ensure not a room, garage or shed is built, no roads or driveways are paved, and not even a patio is poured.
It continued today (JPOST)
The Civil Administration moved swiftly over the weekend to distribute injunctions to settler leaders which immediately suspended for 10 months all new Jewish construction projects in the West Bank that have not broken ground.Actually, this was far quicker than Israel's response to the Yom Kippur War.
According to the Civil Administration, the injunctions were handed out to 22 out of the 24 local and regional council heads in Judea and Samaria. The remaining two will be given out on Sunday.
In protest, Beit El Local Council head Moshe Rosenbaum on Friday ripped up the injunction as he stood in front of the Civil Administration official and said that it was an "illegal document."
Ariel Mayor Ron Nachman plans to file a petition before the High Court of Justice early this week questioning the injunction's legality.
When he received a call from the Civil Administration Friday an hour before the start of Shabbat asking where they could find him to deliver the injunction, a startled Nachman responded, "What is the rush?"
Speaking to The Jerusalem Post Nachman ridiculed the haste with which the injunctions were delivered. "What is this, the start of the Yom Kippur War?" he said.
Obama must have really turned the thumbscrews on Israel's government for them to implement such a racist, anti-Zionist policy -- and he most probably threatened Israel's very survival via our ability to attack Iran's nuclear program, conditioned on a "goodwill" gesture to Palestinians -- hence the "freeze."
We've survived previous freezes before, and we'll survive this one, Obama, and even Netanyahu as well.
Visiting Israel?
Learn to Shoot at Caliber-3 with top Israeli Anti-Terror Experts!
Wherever I am, my blog turns towards Eretz Yisrael טובה הארץ מאד מאד
16 comments:
This really apalls me how the US somehow has shaichus to our land and has the chutzpa to tell us what we can do with it. Mordechai Kedar pointed out the obvious, 1: no-one is looking at some neighbourhood in Qatar checking how their construction is going, 2: No land in Israel is occupied, including the West Bank and Gaza, which have never belonged to nay sovereign country ever, including Jordan, which also was "just an occupier".
This is an important post on the subject.
Obama is a member of the cabinet? Netanyahu made this happen, and Begin and Yaalon are his accomplices who could have prevented it but didn't. It's time to stop trying to relegate the responsibility for this debacle to the Baraks (both of the them) and accept the fact that the people you voted for are the ones that have betrayed everything that they stood for during the elections, once again. It boggles the mind how people who support Jewish settlements in Judea and Samaria vote for the Likud over and over, each time expecting a different result.
Avi: And what bright ideas do you have, when the Likud is the only game in town?
One can harp all day long that the ichud leumi is the only party that is honestly right wing, but with 4 seats, its not going to attract a majority of Israeli voters, nor grow a prime minister.
It's a game and Bibi is playing it well. Bibi has apparently not banned construction in Yosh, only new construction. Buildings with foundations laid can continue to be built. But buildings that have 'permits' cannot be started. In what might be either a brilliant timing decision, or a total fluke, the 'freeze' started on the Arab holiday, so there is really no footage for tv crews, Israeli or foreign, to gather this week. All buildings sites are quiet today anyway. Otherwise, we would have had scenes of 'provocations' in Maaleh Adumim, Ariel, or elsewhere other than some outpost, which we know is also part of the game.
On the other hand, Barak has shown that he is a cruel dog by sending out his hounds the second the planes landed and the footage was confirmed.
It will take a revolution by the citizens who live in Yehuda and Shomron and Yerushalayim and Efrat and all communities inbetween to STAND UP AND SAY NO like the mayor of Ariel did! The country may be divided once again like after Shlomo's reign; maybe even secession. Another Chanukah and then Moshiach will come IY"H (maybe ... please ...)
"This is nothing less than the government's declaration of war against Yesha." -NormanF
One of the reasons I call my blog "Lakewoodfallingdown" is that the mitzvah, yes I said MITZVAH of settling Israel is ignored by the right here. Who would want to live in a settlement where a Jewish run government is more concerned about Obama than the Jewish people who put their lives, families and parnasah at stake? You could buy a mansion in Lakewood cheap, and they will only tax you to death if you add on a porch, not criminalize you!
i thought a building freeze began months ago...?
LWFD: That's exactly the kind of explanation the Meraglim would have given.
But imagine if all the Mitzvah keeping Jews of Lakewood and the other Yeshivas and towns came to Israel.
This (and other typical complaints from the Religious in Galus) would no longer be an issue on the table.
Hi Lakewoodfallingdown:
I'm a bit confused by your comment.
If its yishuv haaretz is a mitzva, why would anyone want to live in Lakewood? And if people are criminalized for living in a settlement, so what?
Do people in Lakewood work on shabbat if the economy is bad? Jews have been criminalized throughout the ages for keeping the mitzvot; from shabbat to brit mila to learning torah -- just because its more difficult is not an excuse to ignore the mitzvot...
Jameel,
What I mean is that if Bris or Shabbos was outlawed, there would be an outcry. But because it's just Jews being prevented from excresizing their rights to live in and build the land, which as I understand is a Mitzvah, it is ignored because it's not a politically correct Mitzvah for the right to support settlers.
What use is a prime minister from the Likud if he implements the policies of Meretz? Ihud Leumi-Mafdal are small parties and are likely to remain small but in Israel's parliamentary system small parties can be significant power brokers. The other alternative is to vote for Labor, which has proven to be in the final analysis better for yesha than all the Likud governments since Shamir. The third alternative is to not vote at all. All three options are better than naively helping the Likud opportunists get into power and hoping against all reason and experience that they won't abandon yesha the moment it becomes politically advantageous for them.
The Likud is a right wing party only in the opposition. In Israeli politics one needs to ignore everything that the politicians say and judge them only by what they do.
Avi: I view the Likud as long term solution. I'm far from naive in thinking that Netanyahu is the great white hope.
Yet honestly, the Likud simply needs better MKs which represent the party's membership. For example, the Disengagement was brought before the party membership and it was soundly defeated - at more than 60/40.
The fact that Sharon ignored the party's wishes, broke his promises, and carried out his policies is an implication of him and his cronies as being a bunch of political thugs -- most of whom have thankfully left the Likud to Kadima.
The only realistic solution I see is to gain significant power within the Likud to move it more rightwards. Yaalon and Beigin have far more power in the Likud than Ichud Leumi and mafdal combined.
There will never be a prime minister from ichud leumi or mafdal in our current system of government.
Yaalon and Begin voted in favor of this settlement freeze.
Shlomo: Yes, they did. And for Yaalon to have done that, means that Israel is under tremendous pressure from the USA, regarding Iran.
I will guarantee that Obama will do everything in his power to sabotage any Israeli operation against Iran, up to and including secret real-time communications with Ahmedinejad to give him whatever data the US military assets in the region get to him (Obama). Therefore, these spineless Likud fools have sold their souls for counterfeit money.
To repeat: THE OBAMA ADMINISTRATION WILL DELIBERATELY SABOTAGE ANY ISRAELI OPERATION AGAINST IRAN, FREEZE OR NO FREEZE. MARK MY WORDS.
Israel's only option is toconceal the oiperation from the US military, or hope that a pro-Israel chain-of-command in the Gulf "mysteriously" fails to pass the word up to our first Muslim president (our best chance).
How disappointing of Ayalon and Begin, I really expected better from them. Livni wdn't have done worse!
Post a Comment