In the aftermath of the UN vote to recognize ‘Palestine’ as a non-member state, top Netanyahu government officials are delivering a major FU to the United States. Not only deciding to build new residential housing in a critical area near Jerusalem, which they had earlier agreed not to do, but essentially telling the White House tough luck and you shouldn’t be surprised.
An ‘Israeli official’ told Laura Rozen the following …
“I understand there was some agreement with the Americans in 2009 … at the start of this government’s term of office not to build in E1,” the Israeli official, speaking not for attribution, told Al-Monitor Sunday by email. “That commitment has been kept in full.”
“Now we have two new factors making it no longer a relevant understanding,” he continued. First, “new elections in a few weeks [that] will bring a new government…and [secondly, the Palestinian Authority’s] fundamental violation of all prior agreements and re-writing of the rules.”
There is “no place for criticism (or even surprise) by Americans,” he added. The “agreement [was] kept in full, for four long years.” US officials did not immediately respond to requests for guidance from Al-Monitor Sunday.
Netanyahu, in his new alliance with Avigdor Lieberman, just gets more and more dangerous to Israel’s future and Israel’s strategic alliance to the United States. Bibi is an incredibly skilled politician. He now rules Israeli politics. But he’s dangerous and deeply unethical.
It will be critical to see whether the Netanyahu government really plans to go through with this or whether it’s just chest-thumping for domestic political consumption. It’s hard not to see this as some very large scale example of the pathetic person who kicks the dog (the PA) because they can’t hold their own with their boss or spouse (Hamas).
