Netanyahu: We won’t freeze settlement construction
Shlomo Cesana, Mati Tuchfeld and Yoni Hirsch, ISRAEL HAYOM
Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu, who departed Israel on Sunday for a six-day visit to the United States, told several ministers with whom he met over the past few days that the issue of freezing settlement construction in Judea and Samaria will not be discussed during the trip.
The comment followed several reports in the American media, suggesting that Washington plans to demand a construction freeze in the areas outside the main settlement blocs in Judea and Samaria, to facilitate its parallel demand of Palestinian Authority President Mahmoud Abbas to extend the peace talks by one year. The original nine-month window allotted for the current negotiations ends in April.
“I am now leaving on an important trip to the U.S. where I will meet with President Barack Obama,” Netanyahu said on Sunday before taking off from Ben-Gurion International Airport. “We will discuss the Iranian issue and the diplomatic process [with the Palestinians]. I will stand steadfast on the State of Israel’s vital interests, especially the security of Israel’s citizens. In recent years, the State of Israel has been under various pressures. We have rejected them in the face of the unprecedented storm and unrest in the region and are maintaining stability and security. This is what has been and what will be.”
Netanyahu is scheduled to meet Obama in Washington on Monday.
Netanyahu is expected to urge Obama to demand that any future nuclear deal reached with Iran entail a “zero enrichment” policy, to ensure Iran will be unable to pursue the development of a nuclear bomb.
CBS News reported on Saturday that the U.S. has put pressure on Israel to stop carrying out assassinations inside Iran. The Mossad has allegedly been responsible for a number of assassinations of Iranian nuclear scientists in recent years, as part of an effort to thwart Iran’s nuclear plans. According to the report, Netanyahu has ordered the Mossad to focus on hunting for evidence that Iran is cheating on the commitments it made in the interim nuclear deal signed in Geneva last November.
At their meeting on Monday, Netanyahu and Obama will discuss the framework peace proposal that the U.S. is formulating that would allow the ongoing negotiations with the Palestinians to continue to the start of 2015.
While in the U.S., Netanyahu will also meet with congressional leaders, as well as other senior American officials.
The annual American Israel Public Affairs Committee conference, which Netanyahu will address on Tuesday, begins on Sunday in Washington. Justice Minister Tzipi Livni (Hatnuah) and Opposition Leader MK Isaac Herzog (Labor) will also deliver speeches at the conference. U.S. Secretary of State John Kerry will address AIPAC on Monday.
Herzog met with Kerry and U.S. National Security Adviser Susan Rice on Saturday and urged them not to be concerned by criticism from right-wing Likud and Habayit Hayehudi politicians regarding the peace talks with the Palestinians, saying that such criticism was not representative of the atmosphere on the streets of Israel.
Netanyahu will meet with the heads of Apple and WhatsApp in Silicon Valley on Wednesday, and will meet with the heads of the Jewish community in Los Angeles on Thursday. The prime minister is expected to return to Israel on Friday morning.
The prime minister’s wife, Sara Netanyahu, is scheduled to meet with Jill Biden, wife of U.S. Vice President Joe Biden, on Monday. The two will meet at an event hosted by Rhoda Dermer, wife of Israeli Ambassador to the U.S. Ron Dermer, to which 25 women serving in positions of power in Washington have also been invited.
Intelligence, Strategic Affairs, and International Relations Minister Yuval Steinitz (Likud), Culture and Sport Minister Limor Livnat (Likud), Tourism Minister Uzi Landau (Yisrael Beytenu) and Deputy Foreign Minister Zeev Elkin (Likud) will be accompanying the prime minister during his visit to the United States and will meet with various officials.
@ SHmuel HaLevi 2:
Thank you for your opinions which I see are based upon your incredible credentials. As I and many others have long believed Netanyahu, is an abject coward ,amongst his other faults. He demonstrated his cowardice when Clinton broke his promise to release Pollard and Netanyahu did nothing. Upon his first visit to Obama he (and the nation of Israel) were humiliated by Obama leaving him for hours while Obama dined with his family. A person who will let himself be so insulted and has accepted insult upon insult on Israel is no leader and can not be counted upon to defend Israel. When will the Israelis wake up and realize what a charlatan Netanyahu is?
@ SHmuel HaLevi 2:
Thank you for your service to Israel and the Jewish people.
@ Goldi:
As a long time Israeli citizen, decorated soldier, formerly in the likud central committee, from which I removed myself after being informed of the real plans by that ghastly element and as an invited consultant to the IMoD as well as a Senior-Fellow Engineer, USDoD military avionics programs, I will say it again. If the Jewish people does not change gears and sever the self serving cadres from government our goose is cooked. I know everyone in the likud top in person and for long. Some of them even joined us on family festivities. Anyone trusting them should get help urgently.
I agree with some of what you say — especially the Oslo gang’s criminality — but not everything. As for your suggestion at solutions, i recommend you take on climbing the Himalayas.
You have a better and faster chance in succeeding.@ SHmuel HaLevi 2:
@ Goldi:
“Negotiations” are a ghoulish business. Not insane, criminally planned for the benefit of a group of families and their operatives that control the functions, all functions of the state. The only way to slash back is to establish a new system which will portend jeopardy at personal level to any official acting in a fashion that causes death and mayhem to the citizens, loses or damage to national Heritage, etc. In that context the Oslo gangs must face the music for having participated as “partners” or directly if the courts so find out, in the ghastly murders of Jews by their Islamic proxies. That justice process must effected by NEW and FREELY elected courts, must be swift, harsh and open to view of the victims families and citizens in general.
Netanyahu is a coward, liar, treacherous, sleazy individual who intentionally allowed Iran to reach nuclear status. No one should be silly enough to believe that a few stupid James Bondish hits on low level nuclear technicians would stop Iran or that the US-EU would.
We allowed the trash to reign and must act to repair that.
It seems that the focus is on NEGOTIATIONS, and not on reaching peace.
the circus goes on and on.
Insane!
Fact Check: Could a Little-Known International Agreement With Ukraine Force U.S., Britain Into War With Russia?
The United States and Britain “reaffirmed” their commitment to protect Ukraine’s borders in exchange for the nation giving up its nuclear weapons in a little-known agreement known as the “Budapest Memorandum signed by former President Bill Clinton in 1994.
The Daily Mail notes reports “if Russia has invaded Ukraine then it would be difficult for the US and Britain to avoid going to war.”
Sir Tony Brenton, who served as a British ambassador from 2004 to 2008, said war is certainly on the table if it’s determined that the Budapest Memorandum is “legally binding.”
According to the Daily Mail, Kiev has asked that the agreement be honored as it claims its borders have been violated.
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Do not Trust the USA or Europe, BB should meet with Obama say NO!!!! and come home. His popularity would jump 30 points in a day.
Mickey Oberman Said:
I fully agree with your statement. What I am concerned about is showing disunity to those who continuously pressure Israel to give more at this stage
could have an adverse effect. Even in democracy, there are stuff that may not be disclosed to public untimely.
@ AbbaGuutuu:
That is one of Israel’s greatest assets. Something unheard of in any Muslim country,
FREEDOM OF SPEECH.
How could individuals and countries stand with Israel when officials of the Israeli government give a different and opposing signals to the world?
Why the official won’t try to solve any differences with BB and others at this critical juncture before going public?
Sure he won’t. It is frozen already. Reports are coming in and few if any units are being built.