The American Spectator : The Spectacle Blog : Israel Shows Heroic Restraint, Gets No Credit From Foggy Bottom

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The Spectacle Blog

Israel Shows Heroic Restraint, Gets No Credit From Foggy Bottom

By John Tabin on 3.15.11 @ 1:52AM

JERUSALEM - The Israeli government said Sunday that it had approved the construction of hundreds of new homes in West Bank settlements after a couple and three of their children were stabbed to death in their home in a Jewish settlement Friday night...

In a response to the slayings, the office of Prime Minister Binyamin Netanyahu said a group of senior ministers had approved "measured construction" of up to 500 housing units in several large Israeli settlements in the West Bank: Maa'leh Adumim, Ariel, the Etzion settlement bloc and Kiryat Sefer...

Mark Regev, a spokesman for Netanyahu, said the decision to build had been taken with "full transparency with the Americans," suggesting that Washington had been notified. Regev emphasized that the new construction would be in large settlements that he said were expected to remain part of Israel in any future peace accord and that the Israeli government saw "no contradiction" between the plan and an eventual agreement on a Palestinian state.

The Netanyahu government is said to have taken an interest in this report by a team of researchers led by David Makovsky of the Washington Institute for Near East Policy, and it shows. Makovsky has put forth a series of proposals for land-swaps that would cede Israeli territory to a future Palestinian state in exchange for territory where 70-80% of Israeli settlers in the West Bank live. In Makovsky's formulation, these are "bloc settlements," while the settlements that would have to be dismantled to create contiguous borders for a Palestinian state are "non-bloc" settlements.

In the wake of a horrific murder of a couple and three small children in a non-bloc settlement, the Israelis could hardly be blamed for reflexively expanding such outposts. Instead, all of the proposed construction is in the bloc settlements. Even now, the Israelis are avoiding acts that would be counterproductive to a peace deal that seems as remote as it ever has.

So does the Obama Administration's State Department acknowledge the goodwill that Israel is showing? Of course not:

In Washington, the State Department said it was "deeply concerned" by the continuing Israeli actions on West Bank settlements. Mark Toner, the department spokesman, called the continued Israeli settlements "illegitimate" and said they "run counter to efforts to resume direct negotiations" between Israelis and Palestinians.

WINEP's Robert Satloff points out that "there has been less peace diplomacy between Arabs and Israelis in the current administration than during any presidency since Lyndon Johnson." Satloff argues that a lot of this is the Obama administration's fault -- but it doesn't ever seem to occur to administration officials that it could be anyone's fault but Israel's.

View all comments (23) | Leave a comment

beebop| 3.15.11 @ 5:46AM

... but it doesn't ever seem to occur to administration officials that it could be it's fault ...

This is the perfect administration for the generation that is primarily responsible for its election successes. It takes no responsibility at all for its actions. Better than that? Inaction and diddling is the first response to any and all crises. Oh. And a tee time.

Bigmo| 3.15.11 @ 7:43AM

Neocns again.

Ron Paul for President

Occam's Tool| 3.15.11 @ 10:05AM

Yes, he'll isolate the Israelis until they use nukes. Genius idea.

Sean| 3.15.11 @ 2:54PM

Aren't you always commenting on nuking other countries?

Sam| 3.15.11 @ 3:01PM

Oh, shut up.

Occam's Tool| 3.17.11 @ 7:46PM

Yes, Sean, but those are nukes UNDER our control. In addition, I prefer fuel air bombs, if possible.Do you want to force a country, founded in the wake of a genocidal mass "ethnic cleansing," into a situation where it feels that it MUST use nukes to defend itself? Do you feel that the Israelis ARE or ARE NOT, paranoid enough?

Ron Lewenberg| 3.15.11 @ 9:35PM

Another person who doesn't know the meaning of the term neoconservative. Except, Bigmo also doesn't know how to spell.

Northwoods| 3.15.11 @ 7:47AM

Who is the writer? Israel can't be blamed for expanding settlements after these "horrific murders", except if the murderers weren't Palestinian. Innocent until proven guilty unless you want to take advantage of the murders, like Israel has done. Their is evidence that the murders were done by foreign workers in the settlement that the Fogels refused to pay. Israel is probably hunting for a retarded Palestinian that they can torture into admitting the crime and the perps will be hustled out of the country.

Dc| 3.15.11 @ 9:01AM

Tough guy/bitch you are, Northwoods, standing up for the rights of animals who decapitate toddlers for sport, and then are celebrated as heroes by the Arab street-pigs. If the baby killers were not "Palestinian" (and as you know, there is no such thing--they're all sandsucking Arabs rejected by their own countries), then why would there be such great celebrations in Gaza, etc.? Maybe these baby-killer cheerleaders know something you don't?
Regardless, I look forward to your justification of the murders.
I'm not Jewish and don't particularly care for Israelis as such, by the way, nor am I a "neocon," whatever that means.
What I understand is the nature of the enemies of Western civilization; that they are vermin that frankly, Israel and America have every right to exterminate, unless and until enough of them stand up and say, stop, we'll excise our own cancers so you don't kill the rest of us. Let's see how many of their children we can incinerate before we get to that point. It's our kids or theirs--I vote theirs first.
Oh, you think most Muslims in the U.S. aren't quietly celebrating this baby murder in Israel? You think they wouldn't exult in doing the same to most American families? Get off the peace-crack pipe. The "religion of peace" is coming for you and your families, whether you like it or not. And they won't be merciful. So you ought to be prepared for war, or you'll end up like the Israeli toddler, decapitated with a dull knife that was just used to gut her parents. Your choice, jackass.

Occam's Tool| 3.15.11 @ 10:04AM

Dc, if you don't care for me or for the Israelis, that's fine by me---you think clearly and well. G-d Bless.

Dc| 3.15.11 @ 11:39AM

Occam, it's pretty simple: like it or not, Judeo-Christian culture is the foundation of Western civilization, with which the "Palestinians" and the Arab filth and/or Islamofascists are inexorably at war. As has been confirmed by folks I know who have been around the world in close contact with enemies of this once-great nation, Islam as currently practiced by the overwhelming majority of its adherents is the only major culture/religion on earth that does not value its women or children, that can't, won't, or doesn't know how to create a life better for its children, and that can't tolerate even a semblance of another set of beliefs in its midst without wanting to disembowel it (like wolves do to their prey, not coincidentally). With apologies for the awful sentence structure above, we (Western culture and civilization) are in a mortal battle with these dirty Arab/Islamic parasites. The sooner we get on with it in a serious way, the better. In the meantime let's all be wise and wary of the burrowing insects in our own country, who worship the "martyrs" who behead toddlers. So it doesn't matter what I think of Israel or Jews, the reality is, we're in this together because we're all marked for death by a relentless, amoral, barbaric, and deeply disgusting enemy. We'd best put aside whatever differences we might have and first, survive, then, conquer and eliminate the threat--however bloody, however long it might be or take. Like I said, it's our kids or theirs.

Occam's Tool| 3.15.11 @ 1:43PM

No, I totally agree. Just remember, not all Jews are Liberals. I was in YAF in 1980 through '84.

Some of us, maybe, you'll get to like. Always more fun to fight with your friends. Read Avigdor Khalani's stuff and I think you'll see a VERY likeable guy.

David V| 3.15.11 @ 3:21PM

Avigdor Kahalani
The Heights of Courage - A Tank Leader's War on the Golan

Occam's Tool| 3.17.11 @ 7:47PM

Dear David,

Thank you for the correction. The book is on my Kindle; I was just lazy. ;)

NoLib| 3.15.11 @ 3:28PM

All I care about is who will pass the Foxhole Test.
Everything else is just details.

Occam's Tool| 3.17.11 @ 7:49PM

Indeed. But, NoLib, this Jew's happy to cover your back, PLUS, my cousin runs a great Chicago Pizzeria.

NoLib| 3.18.11 @ 7:54PM

Ditto any damn time, O's T!

Occam's Tool| 3.17.11 @ 7:48PM

Under this guy, yes, you are very right, Sam.

JmsA| 3.15.11 @ 9:22AM

You're sick, northwoods. Get some help.

Conservative Bob| 3.15.11 @ 9:49AM

Evidence suggests.... put up or shut up...

I have been following this story since it happened and have seen not a word anywhere to remotely support what you suggest.

I did read about the celebration...

Please tell me what do you call an animal that hacks up an infant? What kind of people celebrates such an action?

What kind of individual would attempt to defend the murder of an infant?

What in a society that celebrates and justifies the intentional murder of a baby is worth preserving or supporting in anyway?

If this is the mindset of the Palestinians how can anyone seriously support giving them a state from which to perpetrate further such acts of inhumanity?

ShalomMetsJets| 3.15.11 @ 1:14PM

Arabs murder a Jewish family in Eretz Yisrael for the crime of living in Eretz Yisrael. Israel responds by announcing minimal building in an existing community that everyone apparently agrees is not up for negotiation, and the State Dept criticizes who?

Israel should announce that for every Jew murdered by Arab terrorists, an additional 1000 homes will be built for Jews in all areas of Eretz Yisrael . Announce to the World that Eretz Yisrael is not Czarist Russia and that there is no Pale of Settlement beyond which Jews cannot live. Also, the Israeli Government, not just groups like Palistinian Media Watch, should broadcast the lies and incitement appearing in the Arab media on a daily basis, so our so-called friends in the West can see what we are facing.