White House fumes at PM’s 'American values' statement that echoes malicious rhetoric of birthers and other crazy Obama-haters.

Chemi Shalev

You want to give Benjamin Netanyahu the benefit of the doubt. You prefer to assume that he knew not what he was doing, that he fell in love with his own wisecrack, as he is wont to do, and simply didn’t think things through. You want to believe that we have not reached the stage when the Israeli prime minister would wantonly detonate a stink bomb in an American president’s face, as if he couldn’t care less.

Nonetheless, you have to wonder. You can say a lot of things about Netanyahu: Stupid isn’t one of them. So how could have gone down the route of declaring White House criticism of his government’s moves in East Jerusalem “un-American”? How could he have ignored the multiple numerous alarm bells and whistles that should have warned him to think twice and even thrice before taking this road? How could he have exposed himself to the kind of withering reaction issued by the White House yesterday, summed it up in one loaded little word: “odd.”

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On October 1, the Israeli Peace Now movement broke the news that on the eve of Rosh Hashana, when nobody was paying attention, the Netanyahu government went ahead with final approval of a plan for construction of a new settlement in East Jerusalem – Givat Hamatos.  To understand why this plan is so significant and problematic, see this analysis from Peace Now.  For further dismantling of the excuses offered by Netanyahu and other settlement apologists after news of the approval came out, see this analysis from Danny Seidemann.

The news of this new settlement approval – which came on the heels of the takeover of 7 new properties by settlers in Silwan – cast a pall over Netayahu’s subsequent meeting in Washington, DC with President Obama.  In the wake of that meeting, and following statements from the Obama Administration condemning the new settlement approval, Netanyahu and his fellow settlement defenders/apologists apparently decided that their best defense would be to go on offense – against Peace Now. 

New York Times - October 2, 2014
NYT editorial: The Problem is not Peace Now's disclosure but Netanyahu's settlement construction
http://www.nytimes.com/2014/10/03/opinion/another-israeli-housing-project-threatens-a-peace-deal.html?hp&action=click&pgtype=Homepage&module=c-column-top-span-region&region=c-column-top-span-region&WT.nav=c-column-top-span-region&_r=1

Washington Post - October 1, 2014
Peace Now: Final approval for East Jerusalem settlement project
http://www.washingtonpost.com/politics/obama-meets-with-netanyahu-at-white-house-for-first-time-since-gaza-war-began/2014/10/01/23cdd6c8-4972-11e4-b72e-d60a9229cc10_story.html

Globes (Israeli Financial daily) - October 2, 2014
APN's Ori Nir quoted in a story about Netanyahu's slamming Peace Now
http://www.globes.co.il/en/article-east-jerusalem-building-plan-widens-israel-us-rift-1000975912

Haaretz - October 3, 2014
Haaretz's Barak Ravid criticizes Netanyahu's attack on Peace Now. "Peace Now merely doing its job"
http://www.haaretz.com/news/diplomacy-defense/.premium-1.619014

PBS Newshour - October 1, 2014
Peace Now reveals plans for new settlement construction in East Jerusalem
http://www.pbs.org/newshour/rundown/old-allies-new-challenges-navigate-frayed-bonds/

Associated Press - October 1, 2014
Peace Now: Plan for new East Jerusalem settlement construction finalized
http://santamariatimes.com/news/world/east-jerusalem-construction-plan-moves-ahead/article_d4c1355f-ab3c-566f-b573-0058e6dd33b0.html?comment_form=true

JTA - October 1, 2014
Peace Now: Planned settlement construction in East Jerusalem threatens two-state solution
http://www.jta.org/2014/10/01/news-opinion/united-states/white-house-rebukes-israel-over-eastern-jerusalem-building

JTA - October 2, 2014
JTA's Ron Kampeas ridiculing Netanyahu for blaming Peace Now for wrecking his meeting with Obama
http://www.jta.org/2014/10/02/news-opinion/united-states/bibi-peace-now-and-doing-vs-saying#.VC3F43DWMew.twitter

Bloomberg - October 2, 2014
Netanyahu lashes out at Peace Now for publicizing settlement construction plan
http://www.bloomberg.com/news/2014-10-02/obama-netanyahu-talks-clouded-as-u-s-slams-settlements.html

Baltimore Sun (Reuters story) - October 1, 2014
Peace Now: Plan for new settlement construction in East Jerusalem approved
http://www.baltimoresun.com/news/nation-world/sns-rt-us-usa-israel-obama-netanyahu-20141001,0,5115206.story

Jerusalem Post - October 1, 2014
Peace Now condemns building plans in Givat Hamatos
http://www.jpost.com/Breaking-News/Israeli-NGO-Peace-Now-condemns-building-plans-in-Givat-Hamatos-377786

Jerusalem Post - October 2, 2014
Peace Now: Netanyahu has only himself to blame for international criticism of settlement activity
http://www.jpost.com/Arab-Israeli-Conflict/Jerusalem-Mayor-Nir-Barkat-says-he-refuses-to-apologize-for-building-in-capital-377870

Oregon Herald (Reuters story) - October 1, 2014
Peace Now reports Israeli plan to build in East Jerusalem
http://www.oregonherald.com/news/show-story.cfm?id=439989

Yahoo News (AFP story) - October 2, 2014
Peace Now: Final approval given to East Jerusalem settlement construction project
http://news.yahoo.com/israel-approves-2-600-settler-homes-e-jerusalem-174345761.html

J Street Blog - October 1, 2014
APN quoted in J Street statement
http://jstreet.org/blog/post/obama-and-netanyahu-words-on-peace-need-to-be-followed-by-action_1

Arutz Shva - October 1, 2014
Peace Now: Final approval for East Jerusalem settlement project
http://www.israelnationalnews.com/News/News.aspx/185700#.VC1_9_ldV68

Jerusalem Post - October 2, 2014
Deputy Minister Akunis accuses Peace Now of "informing"
http://www.jpost.com/Arab-Israeli-Conflict/Edelstein-While-Islamic-State-slaughters-West-is-focused-on-building-in-Jerusalem-377890

Honest Reporting (blog) - October 2, 2014
Peace Now accused of "manufacturing" US-Israeli crisis over settlements
http://honestreporting.com/idns-10022014-settlement-summit/

The Algemeiner - October 2, 2014
Israeli Transportation Minister Israel Katz accuses Peace Now of "poisoning the atmosphere"
http://www.algemeiner.com/2014/10/02/israeli-minister-peace-now-poisoning-the-atmosphere-with-new-settlements-claim/

Israel Hayom (reprinted from  CFR blog) - October 3, 2014
Elliott Abrams: Givat Hamatos crisis is a "victory of sorts for Peace Now"
http://www.israelhayom.com/site/newsletter_opinion.php?id=10149

This week, Alpher offers further comments on Netanyahu's UN General Assembly speech; whether ISIS and Hamas are both "fruits of the same poisonous tree", as Netanyahu stated; how, as Netanyahu mentioned, Israel improving relations with Egypt, Jordan, Saudi Arabia and Abu Dhabi (i.e., the United Arab Emirates) in order to counter Iran and ISIS could "eventually" benefit the two-state solution; were the East Jerusalem settlement announcements a deliberate provocation by Netanyahu to humiliate Obama, or yet another case of cognitive dissonance between the two sides?

Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu had a rough meeting in the Oval Office yesterday.

President Obama chided him for Israel’s settlement activity in the West Bank and East Jerusalem. Right after the meeting, administration officials provided a glance into what Netanyahu probably heard from Obama. New settlement activity “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 Netanyahu said he wanted to build relations,” said State Department spokeswoman Jen Psaki.

Netanyahu was fuming as he left the White House for New York, where he told Israeli reporters who he thinks is responsible for the rocky meeting with President Obama.

On 24 September, 2014 the Jerusalem local Planning and Construction Committee published an ad in a local Jerusalem weekly announcing the validation of plan No. 14295 for the construction of 2,610 housing units in Givat Hamatos (link to the ad). Following the harsh reactions of the Americans, Netanyahu tried to argue that there was nothing to criticize him about. Here are a few facts following Netanyahu's claims: