Israeli Prime Minister Naftali Bennett has reassured settler leaders in the West Bank that he is willing to stand up to American pressure, describing his three “No’s” to President Biden’s requests made at their meeting on August 26. A report on Bennett’s description of his pushback is here: “Bennett tells settlers he said no 3 times to Biden, on Iran, consulate, building,” by Shalom Yerushalmi, Times of Israel, September 27, 2021:
Prime Minister Naftali Bennett recently told settler leaders that he pushed back against United States President Joe Biden on Iran’s nuclear program, the reopening of the American consulate in East Jerusalem, and Israeli settlement building, during his meeting with the American leader at the White House in August.
The Biden administration is holding indirect negotiations with Iran on its nuclear program, which have been stalled since June. The new administration has also announced plans to reopen its Jerusalem consulate, which had served Palestinians in the West Bank and East Jerusalem and acted as a de facto US mission to the Palestinians.
When the Trump administration moved the US embassy to Jerusalem, the mission was subsumed into the embassy as the Palestinian Affairs Unit, which was regarded by Palestinians and others as a major blow to their diplomatic standing. Israel opposes the reopening of the consulate.
The administration has also voiced support for a two-state solution and has been reported to convey its disapproval of settlement construction to Jerusalem on multiple occasions.
Bennett, a former director of the settlement umbrella movement who opposes the establishment of a Palestinian state, reassured the settler leaders that construction in the West Bank and East Jerusalem would not slow despite US pressure.
“We know what the Democrats are saying,” Bennett told them. “The settlements are illegal and all that. They told me to build less. Guys, you know where I’m coming from. I’m committed to you — as it was, so shall it remain.’”
“I told Biden ‘no’ three times,” he said during the September 9 meeting with leaders of the Yesha Council settlements umbrella group, sources present told Zman Yisrael, The Times of Israel’s Hebrew-language sister site.
“Once on the Iranian issue, but I can’t tell you exactly about what — they requested something and I said ‘no.’ The second time was about the Palestinian consulate in Jerusalem — it won’t happen. And the third time was about settlements.”
What could Biden have asked Bennett to promise about Iran? Most likely, he wanted Bennett’s commitment not to attack Iran’s nuclear facilities as long as in Vienna a return by Iran to the talks about the 2015 deal is still possible – i.e, Iran returns to the negotiating table that it left in June. Israelis have been warning for months that Iran is marching pell-mell toward a nuclear weapon; many of Israel’s leaders, including the IDF chief of staff Aviv Kochavi, have said that Israel is prepared to go it alone, if necessary, to prevent Iran from acquiring a bomb. Biden wants to hold Israel back, still deluded in his thinking about Iran’s intentions, still putting his faith in those Vienna negotiations which Iran is deliberately drawing out, by leaving the talks in June and at the same time continuing to hint it will return to the table. The Israelis understand, as the Bidenites apparently do not, that Iran is merely buying time, while it continues to enrich uranium to an ever-higher level, from 60% to weapons-grade 90%, and progresses to the point of manufacturing a nuclear weapon. Unlike the U.S., Israel is not deceived about Iranian intentions, and it cannot wait much longer before launching its own attack on Iranian facilities. Hence Bennett’s first “No” to Biden.
The second “No” was to Biden’s request to reopen the “consulate to the Palestinians” in east Jerusalem. When the American Embassy in Israel was moved to Jerusalem, the consulate was closed and the “consular affairs” office was folded into the Embassy. Biden wants to reopen that consulate, which is rightly understood by the PA as a way to help legitimize the Palestinian claim to Jerusalem as the future capital of a Palestinian state. No other country permits a foreign consulate in its capital, whose functions are mainly to service the needs of people hostile to that same country; yet Israel is expected by the Bidenites to do so. Bennett knows that such a consulate cannot be opened without the approval of the host country; he’s told Biden, flatly, “No.” If there is to be an American “consulate to the Palestinians,” it will have to be placed where it rightly belongs, in the capital of the P.A., Ramallah.
The third “No” by Bennett was to Biden’s request that there be no more approvals of settlement building in Judea and Samaria (renamed by the Jordanians in 1950 as “the West Bank”). Bennett is deeply committed to the settler movement. He was for a long time the head of the Yesha Council, the political body representing the settlers. He knows that so much of Jewish history was made in Judea and Samaria, and for that reason alone he will not halt the settlement building, which would imply a possible softening of Israel’s claim to that area. And he further knows that the nearly half-million Israelis who now live in the “West Bank” can not be uprooted. He remembers that removing the 8,500 Israelis who were forcibly pulled out of Gaza In 2005 was a national trauma; uprooting half a million Israelis from the West Bank would be impossible. And Bennett knows that Israel was, and remains, perfectly entitled to build those settlements. The Mandate for Palestine, Article 6, explicitly calls for “encouraging close settlement by Jews on the land.” What “land”? The land that the League of Nations set aside for the future Jewish National Home, which extended from the Golan in the north to the Red Sea in the south, and from the Jordan River in the east to the Mediterranean in the west. Bennett also knows that as a matter of national security,Israel needs to keep control of the West Bank, especially of the Jordan Valley. U.N. Resolution 242 allows Israel to keep land it won in the Six-Day War that it needs to hold onto if it is to have “secure [i.e. defensible] and recognized boundaries.” In addition, the half-million Israeli civilians living in the West Bank also help, by their presence, to secure the area; the adults have all served in the IDF and constitute a kind of auxiliary force to help defend the Jewish state against aggressors from the east.
Once more, let’s listen to what Prime Minister Bennett told Biden in no uncertain terms.
“I told Biden ‘no’ three times,” he said during the September 9 meeting with leaders of the Yesha Council settlements umbrella group.”
No to a promise not to use force against Iran, No to allowing the American “consulate to the Palestinians” to reopen in Jerusalem, No to a freeze on settlement building.
Bennett has now openly committed himself to his three No’s. He won’t, he can’t, he will flatly refuse, to back down. What oh what will the Bidenites do now?
Infidel says
Bennett should start forming alternative military alliances w/ other countries, such as Greece, India, Japan, et al, and not look at the US until 2024
Don McKellar says
The puppet masters Rice and Obama won’t be satisfied with three No’s to His Fraudulancy. They’ll ramp things up to sabotage Israel in the next little while. You watch.
It would be fine for an administration to be pro Israel like Trump’s, and it would be fine to be neutral on Israel and let it do whatever it does (which is the truly correct approach, in my opinion), but His Fraudulancy’s regime is actively anti Israel. And they’re lying about it. Just like Obama.
Keys says
+1
Article I, Section 8 of the US Constitution: “To provide for calling forth the Militia to execute the Laws of the Union, suppress Insurrections and repel Invasions.”
Article IV, Section 4: “The United States shall guarantee to every State in this Union a Republican Form of Government, and shall protect each of them against Invasion.”
Obama is being disingenuous when he recently said open borders are “unsustainable” in an ABC interview. He’s playing good cop/bad cop; stonewalling; pretending he wants the invasion to end. Of course it’s unsustainable, but he doesn’t want it to end yet, because the ‘fundamental change’ is not yet complete.
This is to make it look like he is not influencing the Biden administration’s unlawful inaction. As if to say ‘man, if I were President this would not be happening’, yet those in charge are essentially the Obama Administration implementing their orders.
Psaki responded to Obama’s comment saying “the borders are closed” just like her boss. Talk about stonewalling !
The deceit is pervasive and proficient.
Walter Sieruk says
Joe Biden must have one of two major things wrong which him.
Biden must have 0% wisdom ,good judgement and sound reasoning skills. In the other case , Biden is demonically sinister and activity working for the powers of evil
In either case ,Biden is terrible .
It should be added that if the later reason is the true one than the Bible verse is fitting for Biden.
Which is “A bad man’s thoughts are the Lord’s abomination.” Proverbs 15:26. [N.E.B.]
maria says
Biden is an evil creature, he is an idiot but all the time he shows his hatred towards Israel.
As long as the democRats are in power the America will disappear and a terrorist country ruled by the muslims will destroy the whole world.
Start cleaning of the US.
Jim says
A two state solution is just a transition to an all Muslim solution. It just provides them with a staging ground for the final solution of the Israeli problem. Anyone with common sense knows the Palestinian leaders would never accept it. Why do they not put pressure on Jordan to give the Palestinians the part of the Palestine mandate that Jordan annexed. No one talks about that solution to giving the Palestinians their own state. But they could.
Walter Sieruk says
Bogus President Biden had revealed his total lack of wisdom about the State of Israel when he said that “We still need a two-state solution. It is the only answer.” Biden had by saying that fool statement has shown what an ignorant man he actually is
For the “two state solution” is not really a valid idea and not a genuine solution. It will definitely not stop this awful Israeli –Muslim land conflict.
Thus a “two state solution” is out of the question. This is actually just right and fine .This is because a “two state solution” not really a “solution” but an Islamic ploy of deception , a smokescreen and hoax and a fraud.
For example those recent Hamas rocket attacks in to Israel from Gaza reveals that even the idea of some people of dividing Jerusalem as well as other parts of the State of Israel between the Jewish people of the Muslim/ Arabs is nothing but folly. To engage the madness of such “talks” is a hoax and a farce .
This is because in the so called “negotiations” between the heads of the Jewish nation of Israel and the leaders of the “Palestinians” the Muslim /Arabs the “Palestinian” leaders will speak the truth only when in happens to fit their agenda. The rest of the time the will be speaking half-truths and outright lies. For their goal is to obtain all of the land of the State of Israel. Even in it takes much time and it means getting the land piece by piece. So those “peace talks” are a hoax.
For the “Palestinian” leaders are employing what is the Islamic doctrine of Taqiyya . Which is the Islamic dogma that lying and deception are good things to do as long as it’s done for the cause of the advancement of Islam. The insidious scheme is part of the stealth jihad .Otherwise known as “Islamic Gradualism.” This sly and something subtle strategy of disingenuous speech, lying deception of achieving the goal of all the land of Israel a war ploy that will be a disaster if the heads of the State of Israel are foolish enough to agree to divide the land of Israel with Muslim /Arabs ,the “Palestinians.” For if such a “peace dialogue” results in a divided land, the outcome will literally be murder. For “Palestinian” leader will allow the jihadists use that land as a base to launch murderous rocket attacks in to Israel. As for example, Hamas of Gaza and Hezbollah in Lebanon.
Such false hopes for peace which are based on the foundation of lies are nothing new when it comes to Israel. For example, the Bible in Psalm 55:20, 21. Reads “Such men do violence to those at peace with them and break their promised word; their speech is smoother the butter but their thoughts are of war.” [N.E.B.]
James Lincoln says
Walter Sieruk,
Excellent post, my compliments.
Yes; “piece” talks…
Walter Sieruk says
Jesus taught “If a kingdom is divided against itself, that kingdom cannot stand.” Mark 3:24. [N.E.B.]
gravenimage says
Israeli Prime Minister Bennett’s Three No’s To Joe Biden
………….
I wasn’t sure about Bennett–but glad to see that he is standing up to Biden’s demands for suicidal behavior.
Infidel says
I don’t think Bennett will be anything like Ehud Barak, Ehud Olmert or even an Ariel Sharon. He has one trump card that he can use against his allies – even the Joint List – if they threaten to blackmail him: rejoin forces w/ Likud for the sake of Israel, to which even Likud won’t say no
gravenimage says
I still worry that he won’t be as staunch as Netanyahu, one of Israel’s best leaders–but so far he seems pretty good. Glad to see it.
gregbeetham says
It’s the same problem America has had in a string of conflicts since WW2, identifying what the struggle is about and where the struggle is and Democrats fail on both fronts due to ignorance of historical facts, in some cases involving idealistic self deception bordering on delusion.
Joe will probably do something similar with the Israel Iran Palestine issue to his dealing with the invasion at the Mexican border or the Afghanistan debacle, he’ll just wander off and hope it all works out and nobody notices the mess when it all goes pear shaped.
Actually most of Jordan belongs to Israel (Judea) if you look at biblical era maps and Arabs are the invaders in the whole region including Gaza and the West Bank, ideally they should all be removed just like the Jews were unjustly expelled and their property confiscated from most of the Arab countries.