A letter is circulating in the US asking Obama to support UNSC resolution condemning settlements

28 Comments / 28 Comments

1. Writing any letter to Obama to get anything good and right done is a complete waste of everyone’s time. Don’t bother writing to that goon. Wait until the whole world casts their vote against this idiot, vote him out of office, and then start addressing REAL LEADERSHIP in America.

   Right now, Obama is in the abyss and can’t see through his own darkness and is unfit for leadership.

   Don’t waste your time writing to him. He only cares about making trillions for his Goldman Sachs and Morgan Stanely Clintonian regime clans.

   Now that he made them piles of money he could care less about doing anything that is actually honorable for he has no honor.

2. I am working with key people to get a petition signed by MK’s wherein they assert our rights to J&S by virtue of San Remo and the Mandate and call up the Government of Israel to declare publicly that we Jews and Israel have such rights.

   It may be too little, too late, however…. this is the crux of the matter. Despite the lies perpetuated by the Antisemites represented in the letter to Obama, Moon, the Arabs, and the Media, the Quartet has always been loathe to declare the settlements “illegal” because this will place at risk all historical resolutions passed by the League of Nations and United Nations Security Council, i.e., international law itself. Every previous resolution will become fair game for appeal and abrogation. Imagine the infinite list of post facto challenges to the world order as set down by the US, the UK, France, Russia, and China. World powers don’t want to resort to this; they would much rather apply unbearable political pressure to tiny Israel with the hope that she capitulates quietly.

3. Yamit:

   Who did the polls?

   Apparently AP,GfK

   The AP-GfK Poll was conducted Jan. 5-10 by GfK Roper Public Affairs and Corporate Communications. It involved landline and cell phone interviews with 1,001 adults nationwide, and has a margin of sampling error of plus or minus 4.2 percentage points

   Believe what you want. 🙂 According to Mayan Calendar, 2012 the world will come to an end. Do you believe them ( the Mayans?)

   Me, I’m optimistically pessimistic.

4. Yamit:

   Who did the polls?

   I’m leery of polls, depending on who does them. Rasmussen is pretty good, among the best.

   Gallup? So-so. Zogby? He’s a closet Islamist, definitely not to be trusted. ABC? CBS? CNN? NBC? USA Today? Time? Newsweek? NYT? Any of those…puleeeeze….Obama butt kissers, all.

   Two years is an eternity in politics, that is true. But we’ll see who is right. Again, I’m not as sure as I was a few months ago, but I still expect him to be pounded.

   Getting a genuine economic turnaround that most Americans will recognize as such in the next two years is going to be quite a magic trick. Unemployment is still stubbornly high. Food and energy prices are rising quickly Inflation combined with a weak job market/stagnant wages does not bode well. Combine all of this with a guy at the top who has NO business education of experience, but THINKS he knows everything…

   Polls come and go, and are often buggered by the pollsters in question.

   I’m still fairly confident of my predictions.

5. Dov Bar-Leib

   This seems to support you!!
   

   A must watch: in English
   
   

   Just got this in from French Canada: This has never happened before: The star of David (Magen David) appears in the eclipse of the moon. The Hebrew text explains in French: and adds: “to the nations .. a sign of the End.

   You also see the sealed ring around the moon, a sign of a covenant over the nations with the Magen David coming up to crown the circle. Looks like an engagement ring! Keep looking, after a while the star of David appears.

   Amazing!!

   The star is shown at 1:30 minutes

   http://www.terredisrael.com/wordpress/?p=12509

6. Vinnie, Dov Bar-Leib says:

   I really hate to be a party pooper but:
   
   Poll:

   Half of those surveyed say he deserves a second term, and independents, whose support will be critical in 2012, are evenly divided on that question. Obama is getting the benefit of the doubt despite concerns about his policies, a reflection based in large part on his likability.

   Overall, 53 percent of Americans approve of how Obama is governing, putting him roughly in the middle when compared with his modern-day successors halfway through their first terms.

   Despite his lukewarm policy marks, Obama has an enormous advantage because of how people see him personally; a whopping 83 percent call him likable, and 59 percent view him favorably. Majorities also consider him empathetic (63 percent), a strong leader (62 percent), and in-touch with ordinary Americans (61 percent).

   —Fifty-one percent of independents approve of his job performance, an uptick since November as Obama reached out to Republicans — and compromised with them on taxes — in a new era of divided government. But just 30 percent score his presidency above average or better, a slippage from 37 percent a year ago. And independents divide about evenly on whether he deserves to be re-elected: 46 percent say yes, 43 percent no. He still has trouble with support among men and whites; they are more apt than women and nonwhites to want him fired.

   Apparently you guys are not tuned into the vast majority of Americans. What does this poll say about most Americans? What does this poll say about you?

   I don’t have a dog in this race yet but I am not impressed with Obamas opposition at least not yet. If I were the republican congress I would do exactly nothing and let the economy including health care alone as much as possible. Keep as much of the blame on the economy on Obama and not on congress. Trying to fix the un-fixable will only allow Obama to blame the Republican congress. Screw the conservatives they are so out of tune with 75% of most Americans they can only insure a defeat.

7. @ Vinnie:

   You are spot on, and have Obama pegged. Trust is most important, and many who voted for him know they were bambozzled. He is not a uniter, never will be. He is an angry man as well as his wife, and while they enjoy the lavish lifestyle now, which they believe they are ‘owed’, his ego is too big to think he could lose.
   However, myself included also know that he is playing loose with his current so-called ‘moderate’ appearance only to become even more blatant anti-Israel as soon as he would be re-elected among other reversals.
   If indeed he’ll manage to win again, which I doubt seriously, then God help us all! The final destruction, and sell-out of America will be completed. In my heart I hope that more can see that as not.

8. one would think the UN Security Council has more pressing priorities that are actually relevant to the UNSC mission – like no governments in Tunisia and Lebanon, the failure of the UN to even effect peaceful transition of power after an election in Ivory Coast. This is not what the UNSC is meant to consider.
   Besides, who pays any attention to what that list of muddleheads thinks?

   Maybe the UN should set up a commission like they did for Lebanon on the Hariri assassination, and, just before the legal decision is ready to be revealed, Hezbollah will blame the result on Israeli control of the UN. ha ha ha.

9. Hey Dweller, its my job to explain the job. But thanks you told me some things I didn’t know.

   I am working with key people to get a petition signed by MK’s wherein they assert our rights to J&S by virtue of San Remo and the Mandate and call up the Government of Israel to declare publicly that we Jews and Israel have such rights.

   We want to put as much pressure as we can on Bibi to do so.

10. Carla hill and ilks should be tested on their knowledge of the Balfour declaration and San Remo conference and conclusions. Some of these people must get a lot petro-$.

11. WHERE CAN WE SIGN AN EMAIL LETTER TO THE PRESIDENT WITH THE DIRECT OPPOSITE STATEMENT?
    I am serious– is there a place to do this?

    There probably is, ORJ, or will be shortly. And that’s fine, as far as it goes. However, the White House gets hundreds-of-thousands of emails (maybe more) each day.

    You’re likely to make more of an impact with a phone call to the White House Comments Line: (202)456-1111. M-F, 9-5 ET.

    Best chance of getting a flesh & blood person on the other end is right at 9:00 am sharp. Be prepared to talk clearly & come straight to the point immediately, no extended pleasantries, no hemming & hawing. Nothing complicated; one or two main points only — courteous & rational, but passionate (so the attendant will remember you, among the jillions she talks to that day). Speak slowly enough for him/her to take down your comments, although he may end up just writing one or two key phrases.

    If all attendants are occupied, and you get (or the prompt system offers you) voice mail, that’s ok too:

    If you take that option when offerred, figure on being allowed maybe 45 seconds to speak (that’s what it used to be, under Bush). Since you can’t know beforehand for sure whether you’ll get the flesh & blood option, it’s probably wise to assume that you’ll get voice mail. Therefore, write out precisely what you want to say — because if you wind up with the voice-mail option (and if you take it), you’ll want to be sure you GET to say what you want to.

    Once you’ve written it out, REHEARSE it [yes, there’s a place for that in the real world]: to hear what it sounds like, and also to develop some facility with delivering it. (You’re likely to be somewhat self-conscious, come “show time,” because it’s the White House, etc — and you don’t want to waste valuable seconds stumbling over your tongue.)

    If you end up talking with a person, after all, so much the better, because you can be conversational instead of having to stick to a script. But you can’t know beforehand that you will get a person, so DO practice delivering your message before you dial.

    If you’ve got the time and inclination, call every day.

    I don’t think I would leave more than one message per day, whether in-person or on voice mail.

12. Under U.S. Constitutional Law, it is the obligation of the United States to help Jews settle in all parts of Israel from the Jordan River to the Meditteranean Sea

    What law is that?

    The senatorially-ratified (by unanimous vote), presidentially-signed and -proclaimed, Anglo-American Convention of 3 December 1924, whose text incorporated verbatim, by way of reference, the entire 28 Articles and Preamble of the Mandate Charter.

    The Charter was thereby rendered, via the Convention’s linkage, constitutionally (like all other Senate-endorsed treaties) the “Supreme Law of the Land”—-i.e., of the United States. [US Consitution, Art. 6, par 2, the “Supremacy Clause”] And to the consequent and continual defense and upholding of the Mandate’s provisions thus each-and-every federal US official, elected or appointed (and actually, every single state judge and state justice, as well), was formally and gravely bound by oath or affirmation.

    And Article Six of the Mandate Charter is clear: “The Administration of Palestine, while ensuring that the rights and position of other sections of the population are not prejudiced, shall facilitate Jewish immigration under suitable conditions and shall encourage, in cooperation with the Jewish Agency referred to in Article 4, close [i.e., dense] settlement by Jews on the land, including State lands not required for public use.”

    The Palestine Mandate was a fully binding and obligatory, international instrument—-to which the US, although never itself an actual member of the League, nonetheless, did deliberately go out of its way to specifically and unreservedly bind itself thenceforth in law.

    All members of the League were OBLIGATED to see to it that Britain, as Mandatory, fulfilled her duties under the Mandate — including those in Article Six (above) of “facilitating close settlement by Jews on the land.”

    And the US, by signing on to the Anglo-American Convention, accepted the same responsiblity as the League members to “ride herd” on His Majesty’s Govt.

    Moreover, even today, the legal doctrine of estoppel operatively and collaterally prohibits each such official from presuming to subsequently abrogate, contravene or so much as temporarily suspend the inalienable and imprescriptible RIGHTS lodged within the Mandate Charter—-as these are already acknowledged and protected (by the Senate’s ratification of the Convention)—-and those who are charged with upholding the laws of this country [USA] are “estopped” from reversing, abrogating or otherwise nullifying those rights.

    Remember too, as Howard Grief has noted, that articulated rights & duties within treaties, having no statute of limitations, do not, as a matter of course, ‘expire’ with their original incorporating instruments. This is the Acquired Rights Doctrine, codified in law in 1969 as an integral part of the Vienna Convention on the Law of Treaties [informally, “the Treaty on Treaties”], Article 70 (1) b:

    “Unless the treaty otherwise provides or the parties otherwise agree, the termination of a treaty, under its [own] provisions OR in accordance with the present Convention, does not affect any right, obligation or legal situation of the parties created through the EXECUTION of the treaty prior to its [i.e., the treaty’s] termination.”

13. Dov Bar-Leib,

    I allow that you may be right. As I’ve said in other posts on other installments of Israpundit lately, I am loathe to make firm predictions right now. To me, 2011 is the “year of the wild card”.

    One thing I do take strong issue with, however, is your assertion that ‘deep down’, Obama “knows” he isn’t going to be re-elected. Au contraire; I think the man’s ego is big enough to entertain this possibility.

    He took a break from his hard left agenda long enough to sign that tax bill which extended the Bush tax cuts. He did this with a Republican political gun held to his head, but he did it, because he knew if he stood by his “principles” on this one, he’d be finished politically.

    Back in October, I was sure he’d endorse a Palestinian state within pre-67 borders, the substance of that wretched resolution the Palestinians are pushing now. I figured that was the reason for his urgency on the 90-day extension of the freeze; to provide an air of calm between Jerusalem and Washington for the sake of the mid-term elections, after which he’d put the screws to Israel HARD. He hasn’t, much to my pleasant surprise. At least not yet….

    Of course, there have been no substantive changes in policy. He still wants the same things, and Israel still can’t get a single new fighter plane or attack helicopter from this administration. But he does seem to have backed off for the time being. He intends to raise one billion dollars for his re-election campaign. I think he’s serious about this. I believe, that he believes, that he can win.

    I don’t know what his chances are. Three months ago I as 95% sure he wouldn’t be re-elected. Now, I’m down to 70% sure. The man is a GREAT liar, that is his most obvious talent, the way he can keep a straight face while telling monstrous whoppers. The extension of the tax cuts has given business the predictability they need to start investing and hiring again. Banks are lending money again. If the debt ceiling is raised this spring, the economic can of long-term problems will be kicked down the road again. “Live for today” prosperity, or at least modest improvement in the U.S. economy, may well happen in the next couple of years.

    If the economy picks up even a bit, the Saudi-corrupted, Obama-butt-kissing media – i.e., everybody besides FOX, the WSJ, and talk radio – will give Obama all the credit. As long as he doesn’t make TOO many waves on sensitive foreign policy issues – like Israel – he might really have a chance. American voters with money in their pockets tend to be very forgiving.

    Still, I don’t think he’ll be re-elected either, because Americans don’t trust him, and trust is central to voters. I also don’t think it is a foregone conclusion that the economy will improve in any event; inflation is going to happen (food and energy prices are rising fast), and this combined with high unemployment will drive down consumption, which will further degrade the economy. Car sales are up right now, but the other critical barometer of the economy, housing, is still in the dumps. To top it off, short of bombing Iran – which he’ll never do – there’s no way he’s going to be able to get out from under his “wimp” reputation with the American public. While American voters mostly vote their pocketbooks, being a foreign policy appeasement wimp doesn’t help. Just ask Jimmy Carter (a tower of strength compared with Obama). At any rate, I fully agree with you that if he holds off for now, and somehow gets re-elected, he’ll come after Israel full bore in his second term for sure.

    Obama could start going after Israel again soon, or he may not for now. My advice for concerned parties is to take advantage of his present lack of momentum, and push back as hard as we can while we can.

14. “The settlements are clearly illegal according to article 49 of the Fourth Geneva convention – a status recognized in an opinion issued by the State Department’s legal advisor on April 28, 1978, a position which has never since been revised.”

    This is a steaming pile of malodorous pig plop.

    The 20th century’s foremost authority on Jus Gentium, the Law of Nations, Julius Stone, DEMOLISHED the Carter State Department’s ‘illegality’ opinion — calling it “a subversion…of basic international law principles” [Julius Stone, Israel and Palestine: Assault on the Law of Nations (Johns Hopkins Univ. Press, Washington, DC), p. 5], and denouncing any attempt to render the territories or any other part of the historic Land of Israel judenrein [“clean of Jews”] as tantamount to “turning international law on its head.” [Ibid., p. 181]

    What’s more, Carter’s legal advisor had written that 1978 opinion by citing (inappropriately) a 20-years-earlier-published book of Professor Stone’s — which is (partly) WHY Stone offerred his analysis! — and why he published his then-new [above-cited] 1981 book, to set the record straight.

    Furthermore, Stone’s findings were in the event sufficiently powerful to move then-President Ronald Reagan to soundly, unequivocally REVERSE the assertions of settlement “illegality” previously advanced by his predecessor’s transparently self-seeking State Dept.

    The Reagan administration thenceforth did occasionally characterize the “settlements” as “impediments to peace,” or some such Mickey Mouse language — but never EVER assigned any notion of ‘illegality’ to them.

    So the Letter’s assertion of “never since been revised” is absolutely false.

15. Under U.S. CoNstitutional Law, it is the obligation of the United States to help Jews settle in all parts of Israel from the Jordan River to the Meditteranean Sea

    What law is that?

16. Vinnie said

    Obama is backing off of Israel for now because he realizes that in order for him to make headway on his domestic agenda of turning the U.S. into some variation on Belgium – and this is more important to him than any foreign policy issue – he’s going to have to get re-elected.

    If you are right, that gives us four more years at the most until he actually comes after us here in Israel. I do not think that he could possibly be re-elected, and I think that deep down he knows this too. Therefore, I happen to think that he will pursue his “Liberation Theology” foreign policy objectives now. The number one item of these objectives is to relieve the perceived oppression of the Muslim World. You must understand that according to his Reverend J. Wright, his personal salvation is tied up with the collective salvation of the Muslim World. The number one cause of that perceived oppression is Israel. Therefore, he will seek to divide Israel now and not four years hence in his fantasy world 2nd term. This act alone could lead to the collapse of the dollar before August. But if it does not, Obama will be on board if not captaining the ship of Jerusalem’s division. It is a long way still until August, and I believe that he has already decided that he will be changing his mind, stating Israeli intransigence as the reason for his change of heart. We are dealing with a very evil man here, but he is a clever one nevertheless. By the way, there is no letter or act of Congress that can stop him and his Crusade. Witness how three American Presidents have ignored Gingrich’s Jerusalem Embassy Act of 1995. By US Law the US Embassy should no longer be in Tel Aviv, but 15 years later it is still in Tel Aviv. So huff and puff, and watch Obama blow down his own house.

17. Olivia,

    Bad as it is, try to calm down. There is a bright side to this. Really.

    You want to see Obama re-elected? Of course not. Who here does? (OK, if it is Obama versus Ron Paul, then it is time to leave altogether; hope it doesn’t come to that).

    Obama is backing off of Israel for now because he realizes that in order for him to make headway on his domestic agenda of turning the U.S. into some variation on Belgium – and this is more important to him than any foreign policy issue – he’s going to have to get re-elected.

    He knows it will cost him politically to keep beating up on Israel. It wasn’t the only reason for the “shellacking” his party got last November, but it was a contributing factor.

    That is why up to now, since he is once again in “campaign mode”, he has so far signaled that he is not backing this resolution. That must be very painful to him, poor baby…

    But, let him go ahead and back the damn thing. Let him dig a deeper hole for himself for 2012. The last thing I want to see is Obama fooling anybody here into thinking that he’s changed his stripes on Israel, by means of meaningless fluff, and in so doing, convinces people to vote for him again.

    Congress will slam him good for this if he does. Just keep digging that political grave for yourself, NCHO….just keep digging.

18. This letter makes me boiling mad!

    WHERE CAN WE SIGN AN EMAIL LETTER TO THE PRESIDENT WITH THE DIRECT OPPOSITE STATEMENT?

    I am serious– is there a place to do this? I’ve signed various petitions on the net before. I want to sign one telling the President and the UN that their reasoning is flawed, their retelling of history is beyond prejudice, and their legal arguments are not only incorrect but display a profound misinterpretation of international law.

    WHO HAS THIS PETITION AND WHERE CAN WE SIGN IT?

19. Thank you for exposing Israel’s enemies and American’s latest panderers to the oil interests in the Middle East. This is the must current version of the “White Man’s Burden” (Kipling) when applied to India, followed by the Monroe Doctrine in south and central America. Now it’s the Israel’s turn to be the target. This too shall pass. I just hope that Israel doesn’t disappear along with it. What goes around also comes around, making a full circle of the old patterns of bigotry long since proven to be failures.

20. Buy now in Yesh or East Jerusalem, but be prepared to relinquish your property in August 2011 for about nine months as G-d judges the world for its hypocrisy and insolence. The entire world is coming with “peace-keeping” troops to divide Jerusalem, and G-d’s wrath is already being felt in Australia and Brazil. Watch for the pace of judgement to pick up as August gets closer and closer. The only thing that might delay this is the total collapse of the US dollar by the end of June or even July or a nuclear war with North Korea allied with Iran and Hezbollah. Other than these two things, expect the inevitable. For 2400 years the prophesies of Zecharia and Ezekiel have stared Mankind in the face. Now the generation of Mankind with the most hubris and hypocrisy in all of human history is about to ignore these ancient seers and to confront its Maker.

21. Under U.S. CoNstitutional Law, it is the obligation of the United States to help Jews settle in all parts of Israel from the Jordan River to the Meditteranean Sea. It is against international law, as well as United states constitutional law to go down this path.

22. All of Israel is a settlement. The Jews were settled there by the G-d of Abraham, as is written in the Torah, the ChristianBible, and the Koran. The Jews have just forgotten. This is a wake up call. If we don’t claim it maybe we are not worthy of it. If you think I’m crazy, Ben Gurion used the same words when asked to make a case for why the Jews belonged in Israel. He stated that this is our deed to the land, the Torah, and our deed is recognized by every G-d fearing person in the world. Our problem today is that we let those who want us out to define the narrative. Even in the comments above we refer to our own land as settlements, and Jewish “settlers” are seen as an annoyance, an obstacle to peace, not the brave heroes of our land. Moreover, Israel is not Netanyahu’s to give away. For more on that mythsandfacts.org “This Land Is My Land”, Eli Hertz, or “The Legal Foundations and Borders of Israel under International Law”, Howard Grief L.LB.. Amazon.com

23. Expecting a government system that includes Peres, the self elected supreme courtiers and other such things to react in support of Jewish Narional Heritage is not realistic.
    We are buying with two of our children two houses in YESH. Building non stop in State lands there is the answer. Otherwise another avenue to be pursued would be to re assume soverign control of our territories.

24. And this is surprising to whom….? These cretins are predictable!

25. Among those signing the letter are former US Trade Representative and Council on Foreign Relations Chair Carla Hills…

    Should I be surprized?

26. It’s time for an international petition against the letter, citing UNSC 242 and the fact that UNSCRs 446 and 465 and article 49 of the Fourth Geneva convention are illegal in terms of UNSC 242, and calling for the end of the Arab illegal occupation of Israeli territory. It is high time we started really talking about and using the term “the Arab-Islamic-imperialist illegal occupation of Israeli territory”. We must not be afraid to use the term, because it’s a term based on facts that stare the world in the face.

    The voice demanding the end of the illegal Arab-Islamic-imperialist occupation of Israeli territory must start making itself heard now. It’s way past high time.

27. Israel needs to respond with continued building.

    The time has come for a clear signal from the United States to the parties and to the broader international community that the United States can and will approach the conflict with the objectivity, consistency and respect for international law required if it is to play a constructive role in the conflict’s resolution.

    There should be no objectivity between the civilized(Israel)and terrorists.

    America’s credibility in a crucial region of the world is on the line – a region in which hundreds of thousands of our troops are deployed and where we face the greatest threats and challenges to our security. This vote is an American national security interest vote par excellence. We urge you to do the right thing.

    Translation: Any future islamic jihadist attack on our troops will be blamed on Israel.

28. The settlements are clearly illegal according to article 49 of the Fourth Geneva convention – a status recognized in an opinion issued by the State Department’s legal advisor on April 28, 1978, a position which has never since been revised.

    Jews take note: this is the fruit of four decades of successive governments too timid to assert Jewish rights under the Mandate and UNSC 242.

    “Silence is the wit of fools”

    — Anatole France