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Watch out Canada! Those horrific "Tar" sands are the next target for sanctions.
http://freebeacon.com/national-security/reports-obama-mulling-sanctions-on-israel/
Reports: Obama Mulling Sanctions on Israel
White House, State Department refuse to confirm or deny
AP - Adam Kredo - December 4, 2014 3:10 pm
The Obama administration is refusing to discuss reports that emerged early Thursday claiming that the White House is considering imposing sanctions on Israel for continuing construction on Jewish homes in Jerusalem.
State Department spokeswoman Marie Harf dodged several questions on Thursday when confronted with reports that the administration had held secret internal meetings to discuss taking action against Israel for its ongoing building in East Jerusalem.
The classified meetings were reportedly held several weeks ago and included officials from both the State Department and White House, according to the Israeli daily Ha’aretz, which first reported on the meetings.
The possibility of sanctioning Israel for its ongoing construction sends a signal that the Obama administration is willing to go further in its denunciations of Israel than any previous White House.
At the same time, the White House is vigorously pushing Congress against passing new sanctions on Iran.
When asked to address the reports Thursday afternoon, Harf declined to take a stance.
“I’m obviously not going to comment one way or another on reported internal deliberations,” she said. “We’ve made clear our position on settlement activity publicly and that hasn’t changed.”
When pressed to address whether the White House has reached a point at which it believes its harsh rhetoric against Israel is not enough, Harf again demurred, stating that she would not “address hypotheticals.”
A White House National Security Council (NSC) official also would not comment on the report when contacted Thursday by the Washington Free Beacon.
News of the supposed meeting leaked to the press though Israeli officials who were apparently apprised of the discussion.
Senior Israeli officials told Haaretz “that White House officials held a classified discussion a few weeks ago about the possibility of taking active measures against the settlements,” according to the report.
The discussion about levying sanctions on Israel reportedly began after Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu’s October meeting at the White House and the subsequent battle between Washington and Jerusalem over settlement construction.
The thought of the White House leveling sanctions on Israel as it works to lessen those already imposed on Iran prompted consternation on Capitol Hill and throughout the pro-Israel world.
One senior congressional aide who works on the issue of Israel expressed shock that a White House could even discuss such action.
“If these reports are true, this would mark a new era of unprecedented hostility from the White House against our strongest ally in the Middle East,” the source said. “It’s impossible not to notice the irony of the administration mulling sanctions on Israel while threatening to veto new sanctions against Iran.”
The aide added: “The president should be forewarned that taking such action against Israel would yield tremendous pushback from Congress.”
Those in the pro-Israel world expressed a similar view when reached for comment.
“Even this administration, which has been historically hostile to our Israeli allies, even as they worked overtime to bomb the enemies of Iranian proxies across the Middle East, could not possibly be so aggressively committed to undermining our alliances as to levy sanctions against Israel at the same time they’re lifting them on Iran,” said one senior official with a pro-Israel organization who agreed to speak only on background.
Others took a more critical view.
“The Obama administration is against sanctions on Iran, but for them on Israel,” said Noah Pollak, executive director of the pro-Israel organization Emergency Committee for Israel. “Is [White House deputy national security adviser] Ben Rhodes wearing a green headband to work these days?”
http://www.timesofisrael.com/white-house-said-to-mull-new-settlement-sanctions/
The Times of Israel - By Adiv Sterman December 4, 2014
White House said to mull settlement sanctions
Obama administration reportedly meets to discuss tougher stance on Israel’s West Bank construction policies
Senior officials at the White House and the US State Department held a confidential meeting to discuss the possibility of leveling sanctions against Israel to deter the Israeli government from launching new construction projects in settlements across the West Bank and in East Jerusalem neighborhoods, Israeli officials were quoted as saying on Thursday.
According to Israeli daily Haaretz, the Obama administration discussion took place following Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu’s October meeting with US President Barack Obama in Washington and against the backdrop of the subsequent public spat over Israeli building plans in East Jerusalem’s Givat Hamatos area.
The White House has not yet decided how or when to implement any such sanctions against Israel, the report said, quoting senior Israeli officials. US officials had no comment on the report.
The imposition of sanctions on Israel over its policies in the West Bank would mark a significant diplomatic shift for the US, which over the past years has consistently condemned building over the pre-1967 lines but has not taken concrete steps to try to curb such activity.
US-Israel relations were plunged into crisis in October, after news that a Jerusalem planning committee had signed off on the final stage of approval for construction of some 2,500 homes for Jews and Arabs in the Givat Hamatos neighborhood prompted the Obama administration to issue some of the strongest language it had ever employed to criticize Israel. The condemnation included a warning that Israel was endangering its relations with “even its closest allies.”
Nearly identical, stridently critical comments on the Givat Hamatos building plans were issued by the spokespeople of the State Department and the White House, only hours after Netanyahu and Obama held their session at the White House.
The US statements, which also came shortly after an ultra-nationalist Jewish group said dozens of settlers would move into six apartment buildings purchased in the heart of the predominantly Arab neighborhood of Silwan in East Jerusalem, suggested that Washington felt deeply embittered and blindsided by Israel’s moves, viewing Netanyahu as disingenuous when he said he wanted the US to help him win over Arab states to warm their ties with Israel and advance a two-state solution with the Palestinians.
Netanyahu, for his part, rejected the American statements, stressing to reporters upon his return from the White House that he did not accept the Obama administration’s position on the issues of both Silwan and Givat Hamatos. He said the US had been informed of developments in Silwan, but not updated about the Givat Hamatos approval process, which he said was merely a “statutory formality that does not require publicizing.” He said discussion of the settlement issue in the White House meeting was not heated.
The Israeli leader later said he would not accept restrictions on where Jews could live in Jerusalem, adding that he was “baffled” by the American condemnation.
“It’s against the American values. And it doesn’t bode well for peace,” he said during an interview with CBS. “The idea that we’d have this ethnic purification as a condition for peace, I think it’s anti-peace.”
News agencies contributed to this report.
http://freebeacon.com/national-security/reports-obama-mulling-sanctions-on-israel/
Reports: Obama Mulling Sanctions on Israel
White House, State Department refuse to confirm or deny
AP - Adam Kredo - December 4, 2014 3:10 pm
The Obama administration is refusing to discuss reports that emerged early Thursday claiming that the White House is considering imposing sanctions on Israel for continuing construction on Jewish homes in Jerusalem.
State Department spokeswoman Marie Harf dodged several questions on Thursday when confronted with reports that the administration had held secret internal meetings to discuss taking action against Israel for its ongoing building in East Jerusalem.
The classified meetings were reportedly held several weeks ago and included officials from both the State Department and White House, according to the Israeli daily Ha’aretz, which first reported on the meetings.
The possibility of sanctioning Israel for its ongoing construction sends a signal that the Obama administration is willing to go further in its denunciations of Israel than any previous White House.
At the same time, the White House is vigorously pushing Congress against passing new sanctions on Iran.
When asked to address the reports Thursday afternoon, Harf declined to take a stance.
“I’m obviously not going to comment one way or another on reported internal deliberations,” she said. “We’ve made clear our position on settlement activity publicly and that hasn’t changed.”
When pressed to address whether the White House has reached a point at which it believes its harsh rhetoric against Israel is not enough, Harf again demurred, stating that she would not “address hypotheticals.”
A White House National Security Council (NSC) official also would not comment on the report when contacted Thursday by the Washington Free Beacon.
News of the supposed meeting leaked to the press though Israeli officials who were apparently apprised of the discussion.
Senior Israeli officials told Haaretz “that White House officials held a classified discussion a few weeks ago about the possibility of taking active measures against the settlements,” according to the report.
The discussion about levying sanctions on Israel reportedly began after Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu’s October meeting at the White House and the subsequent battle between Washington and Jerusalem over settlement construction.
The thought of the White House leveling sanctions on Israel as it works to lessen those already imposed on Iran prompted consternation on Capitol Hill and throughout the pro-Israel world.
One senior congressional aide who works on the issue of Israel expressed shock that a White House could even discuss such action.
“If these reports are true, this would mark a new era of unprecedented hostility from the White House against our strongest ally in the Middle East,” the source said. “It’s impossible not to notice the irony of the administration mulling sanctions on Israel while threatening to veto new sanctions against Iran.”
The aide added: “The president should be forewarned that taking such action against Israel would yield tremendous pushback from Congress.”
Those in the pro-Israel world expressed a similar view when reached for comment.
“Even this administration, which has been historically hostile to our Israeli allies, even as they worked overtime to bomb the enemies of Iranian proxies across the Middle East, could not possibly be so aggressively committed to undermining our alliances as to levy sanctions against Israel at the same time they’re lifting them on Iran,” said one senior official with a pro-Israel organization who agreed to speak only on background.
Others took a more critical view.
“The Obama administration is against sanctions on Iran, but for them on Israel,” said Noah Pollak, executive director of the pro-Israel organization Emergency Committee for Israel. “Is [White House deputy national security adviser] Ben Rhodes wearing a green headband to work these days?”
http://www.timesofisrael.com/white-house-said-to-mull-new-settlement-sanctions/
The Times of Israel - By Adiv Sterman December 4, 2014
White House said to mull settlement sanctions
Obama administration reportedly meets to discuss tougher stance on Israel’s West Bank construction policies
Senior officials at the White House and the US State Department held a confidential meeting to discuss the possibility of leveling sanctions against Israel to deter the Israeli government from launching new construction projects in settlements across the West Bank and in East Jerusalem neighborhoods, Israeli officials were quoted as saying on Thursday.
According to Israeli daily Haaretz, the Obama administration discussion took place following Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu’s October meeting with US President Barack Obama in Washington and against the backdrop of the subsequent public spat over Israeli building plans in East Jerusalem’s Givat Hamatos area.
The White House has not yet decided how or when to implement any such sanctions against Israel, the report said, quoting senior Israeli officials. US officials had no comment on the report.
The imposition of sanctions on Israel over its policies in the West Bank would mark a significant diplomatic shift for the US, which over the past years has consistently condemned building over the pre-1967 lines but has not taken concrete steps to try to curb such activity.
US-Israel relations were plunged into crisis in October, after news that a Jerusalem planning committee had signed off on the final stage of approval for construction of some 2,500 homes for Jews and Arabs in the Givat Hamatos neighborhood prompted the Obama administration to issue some of the strongest language it had ever employed to criticize Israel. The condemnation included a warning that Israel was endangering its relations with “even its closest allies.”
Nearly identical, stridently critical comments on the Givat Hamatos building plans were issued by the spokespeople of the State Department and the White House, only hours after Netanyahu and Obama held their session at the White House.
The US statements, which also came shortly after an ultra-nationalist Jewish group said dozens of settlers would move into six apartment buildings purchased in the heart of the predominantly Arab neighborhood of Silwan in East Jerusalem, suggested that Washington felt deeply embittered and blindsided by Israel’s moves, viewing Netanyahu as disingenuous when he said he wanted the US to help him win over Arab states to warm their ties with Israel and advance a two-state solution with the Palestinians.
Netanyahu, for his part, rejected the American statements, stressing to reporters upon his return from the White House that he did not accept the Obama administration’s position on the issues of both Silwan and Givat Hamatos. He said the US had been informed of developments in Silwan, but not updated about the Givat Hamatos approval process, which he said was merely a “statutory formality that does not require publicizing.” He said discussion of the settlement issue in the White House meeting was not heated.
The Israeli leader later said he would not accept restrictions on where Jews could live in Jerusalem, adding that he was “baffled” by the American condemnation.
“It’s against the American values. And it doesn’t bode well for peace,” he said during an interview with CBS. “The idea that we’d have this ethnic purification as a condition for peace, I think it’s anti-peace.”
News agencies contributed to this report.
