Former Arkansas governor Mike Huckabee spoke in favor of the settlements from behind a podium with a red and white sign which read, “Build Israel Great Again.”
By Tova Lazaroff, JPOST
US President Donald Trump’s support is key to building more settlement homes that are needed, said Yesha Council head Hananel Durani Wednesday in a plea to former Arkansas governor Mike Huckabee.
“We see now that under the Trump administration the atmosphere is changing,” Durani said during a bricklaying ceremony in Efrat with Trump ally Huckabee as part of an effort to reach the White House.
The Yesha Council and Huckabee celebrated the construction of 900 new homes, 600 of which are in the final stages of building.
Durani recalled how far the communities in Judea and Samaria have come since the Obama administration’s condemnation of West Bank settlement expansion. Since the start of the Trump administration, the president’s stance on settlement building has remained unclear.
Durani called on Huckabee to push the administration for further development in existing settlements in the region.
“Unfortunately there are still restrictions and we have not been allowed to build thousands of residential units,” he said.
Huckabee spoke in favor of the settlements from behind a podium with a red and white sign which read, “Build Israel Great Again,” playing on the Trump administration slogan of “Make America Great Again.”
Huckabee, a staunch supporter of Israel, previously ran for the Republican presidential nomination and has close ties to the Trump administration. His daughter, Sarah Huckabee Sanders, is press secretary for the White House.
“If President Trump could be here today, he would be a very happy man, happy because he is a builder and he loves to see construction sites. He loves to see things that are being built. That is his life,” said Huckabee. “What is being built here is really a bridge to peace. For those who might think that is not possible, it is what we are seeing with our own eyes.”
He also spoke in favor of lifting expansion limitations on what he called “Israeli communities.”
Oded Revivi, head of Efrat Council, told Huckabee, “The truth of these communities is that they are safe thriving places to build homes and raise children.” The majority of the region’s population was largely dedicated to living in co-existence, added Revivi, who also serves as the Yesha Council foreign envoy.
@ Michael S:
Hundreds of thousands of Irish live permanently in England, and they return often. So they are perfetly familiar with Cockney. I am not. I congratulate you on your knowledge of an alien language.,.. But you often err about my comments, and this is no exception. I understand perfectly what “gor blimey” means….I was just using it as an overall term for other expressions that I’m not familiar with. Gor blimey was frequently uttered in any English film which had a cockney in it. As a child I saw many. But as for “dick turpin”…I only knew about “Dick Turpin” as a famed English highwayman with a horse named Black Bess.
I have a collection of William Harrison Ainsworth’s books and in one of them he is prominently featured for his famous 200 mile ride…from London to York..
@ Edgar G.:
Edgar,
You Irish may be unfamiliar with “Gor Blimey” and other Cockney expressions; but we Yanks are used to it, since getting a Jock Pres:
https://youtu.be/-cA0NM5RAY0
Concerning the settlements, more power to any US leader who supports them. If Huckabee’s lead gains momentum, the Pallies may sue for peace before they lose everything. That would be good for everyone.
@ david melech:
Most of us are not English, and don’t understand your “gor blimey” references…like this “dick turpin” one. And the nutty yahoo thing is definitely worn out..
Build a TrumpTowers that’d be a real message. im sure the real holdup is not dick turpin but beany nutunyahoo. As the dicktator in a limited democracy black is white when he says.