I went to the US Consulate this week to take care of certain family business. It was a thoroughly unpleasant experience. I think it is ironic that two days after my extremely unpleasant experience at the consulate, State Department Spokeswoman Victoria Nuland refused to say what the capital of Israel is. It was ironic because anyone who visits the consulate knows that the US’s position on Jerusalem is in perfect alignment with that of Israel’s worst enemies.
Last time I went to the consulate was in 2007. At that time the building was located in the middle of an Arab neighborhood in eastern Jerusalem. It was unpleasant. In fact it was fairly frightening. Once inside the building I couldn’t shake the feeling that the Americans had gone out of their way to make Israeli-American Jews feel uncomfortable and vaguely threatened.
But then, I was able to console myself with the thought that the US has been upfront about its rejection of Israel’s right to assert its sovereignty over eastern Jerusalem. By treating Jews as foreigners in their capital city and behaving as though it belongs to the Arabs by among other things hiring only Arabs as local employees, the US officials on site were simply implementing a known US policy. True, I deeply oppose the policy, but no one was asking me, and no one was hiding anything from me.
The new consulate is much different, and much worse. The State Department opened its new consulate in Jerusalem in October 2010. It is located in the Jewish neighborhood of Arnona. It was built on the plot that Israel allocated for the US Embassy after Congress passed Jerusalem Embassy Act in 1995 requiring the US government to move its embassy to Jerusalem. I read that construction began in 2004. I haven’t been able to find out whether when construction began it was to build the embassy or a new consulate so I don’t know yet whether the Bush administration thought it was building an embassy that the Obama administration turned into a consulate or if the Bush administration thought it was building a consulate that the Obama administration completed.
Whatever the case, the fact that the building that was supposed to be an expression of US recognition of Israel’s capital in Jerusalem is being used as the consulate is an unvarnished act of aggression against Israel and Congress.
If I am not mistaken, the US Consulate General in Jerusalem is the only US consulate in the world that is not subordinate to the embassy in the country where it is located. When it was located in a hostile Arab neighborhood in eastern Jerusalem, the fact that it was not subordinate to the US Embassy in Tel Aviv was upsetting. But it was also easily justified in light of US policy of not recognizing Israeli sovereignty in eastern, southern and northern Jerusalem.
But Arnona is in western Jerusalem. It is a Jewish neighborhood that even the most radical Israeli leftists don’t envision transferring to the Palestinians in any peace deal. Putting the consulate in Arnona –
and on the site reserved for the embassy no less – is the clearest expression of American rejection of all Israeli sovereign rights to Jerusalem imaginable.
And the fact that it is located in the heart of a Jewish neighborhood
is far from the only problem with the building.
Israelis who live in Jerusalem and need US consular services are required to go to the consulate in Jerusalem. You can’t just go to Tel Aviv to avoid the unpleasantness. This again is due to the fact that the US does not recognize ANY Israeli sovereignty over Jerusalem. From the State Department’s perspective, people who live in Jerusalem — even in Arnona and Rehavia and Ein Kerem etc. — live in a DIFFERENT COUNTRY from people who live in Tel Aviv and Netanya. We can no more
receive services from the embassy in Tel Aviv than we can receive services from the embassy in Amman.
I will be writing more about the US’s adversarial treatment of Israel as embodied in its treatment of Jerusalem in next week’s Jerusalem Post column. But suffice it to say here that Victoria Nuland’s statement to AP reporter Matt Lee, (posted below in case you missed it), is a true depiction of America’s policy on Jerusalem – and though it, on Israel.
@ ArnoldHarris:
You are no Jewish nationalist and a sorry excuse for anyone who still calls himself a Jew. I see no difference between you and the Soros crowd except that at least they are honest about their anti Jewishness and anti-Israel beliefs.
By way of contrast, President Clinton pardoned dozens of FALN (Puerto Rican nationalist) terrorists who murdered and assaulted scores of Americans including members of Congress. President Bush is said to have felt compassion for the “poor” John Lind the young American who fought with the Taliban, warring against his own countrymen: now that’s treason. Like Clinton, whose destruction of the Constitution and economy he has permitted to increase, Bush did not pardon Pollard. Their positions on this matter, dictated to them by the State Department and NSC (the departments of Defense, State, CIA, FBI and Treasury) reveal vividly the default option of the West: degrade and humiliate the Jew.
Arnold I can only conclude that your ignorance is only exceeded by your arrogance. I would suggest that your opinions on Israel and advice to us should be viewed in the context of your statement above. From one Israeli Jew to an American unJew. You remind me of why I dislike and don’t trust American Jews, so Up yours Arnold Harris Mount Horeb WI!!!! CASE CLOSED
@ Joe Hamilton:
I have named Obama as :‘THE BLACK PLAGUE’ for the past 4 years.
@ ArnoldHarris:
Nobody could contest the fact that Pollard did the wrong thing, albeit from the standpoint of an ally (but foreign) nation. What people seem to be upset about is the ferocity of the sentence; I’m not sure he will be let go when he is eligible for parole…
Meanwhile there are 14 (?) certifiably dead US servicemen lying in graves after one of their “fellow soldiers” opened fire yelling “allahu akbar!!!” Different kind of case admittedly, but the US administration has gone out of its way to excuse the mass murderer who did this (essentially on behalf of a foreign nation: the Ummah).
Pollard had, as far as I know, no intention of killing anyone in the US. But many have this intention, and they seem to live comfortable lives while continuously uttering potentially deadly treasonous words.
@ Alan:
I think you have it just about RIGHT.
@ Alan:
Simple response. Almost 400 mil Arabs-1.3 bil Muslims Vs 6mil Jews in Israel. The Muslims live in a sea of petrol and trillions of metric natural gas- vs a tiney, its bitsey Israel with a a small fraction of both. In the long run every nation on earth thinks primarily of its own good. And that is why the future is grim..
@ ArnoldHarris:
The last decade for America is that she is not liked and not respected. Blame that on two very stupid administrations.
@ rongrand:
First we need a new President. And it is far from certain that we will get a new president- And should we get a new president, it is far from certain that new president will move the American embassy to Jerusalem.As a matter of fact, I would bet my last buck that there will be no move.
rongrand Said:
Agreed Ron. That is why Jerusalem will never be divided or out of Jewish control again. I was just constructing a machiavellian secular argument.
The first thing for the new president of the US is to move the American Embassy to Jerusalem, the capital of Israel and publicly announce to the world we recognize Jerusalem as an undivided city. One Jerusalem, One Capital and above all One Sovereign Jewish Nation under G-d as He has willed.
@ Joe Hamilton:
Joe, after more carefully re-reading Wolf Blitzer’s 20-year-old book about Pollard, “Territory of Lies”, I see that I incorrectly wrote that Pollard was a US naval officer. So I stand corrected. Even so, while serving the US government as an intelligence analyst, he became a paid spy of a foreign country. He was caught and sentenced to life imprisonment. In most other countries, he would have been put to death after a secret tribunal. In his case, he went behind bars in 1987, and according to the US federal prison authorities, he is eligible for parole in November 2015. I assume he will be released then, presumably to live out the rest of his life in Israel.
Would I have done anything like that for Israel or any other country? I sure as hell would not. Being a Jewish nationalist is one thing. Becoming a paid stoolie for another country while in the employ of a federal intelligence agency is something else. Pollard knew what the punishments would be for passing secret documents when he went to work for that agency. It would have been a lot better both for him and the State of Israel if he had kept his hands off all those documents, quit his job with that agency, then moved to Israel before doing anything else. Anyway, that would have saved him from at least 28 years residence in gray-bar city.
Case closed.
Arnold Harris
Mount Horeb WI
Jewish American leaderships and the majority of Jewish Americans need to have the cojones to come right out and say enough is enough to Presidential candidates and platforms. Each time an election comes up, there’s a promise to make Jerusalem the capital of Israel. Each time a President is elected, there’s some kind of stupid excuse not to offend Arabs who murder us.
Ovomit is the FIRST one not only to object to Jerusalem being the capital of Israel, he and that stupid shrew at the State Department, the one Jewish women fawn over while she pisses on them, the one and thankfully only Hillary Clinton have made it clear they’ll never recognize Jerusalem as Israel’s capital. Yet Jewish-Americans go like lemmings to vote Democrat, or listen to the Kapos and Judenrat types like Dan Shapiro, Booby Wexler, Alan So-Low, and Debbi Wasserman Shultz spew scores of lies on behalf of the little anti-semites they arse-lick on a daily basis.
Time to tell Bonzo aka Barack and Hillary to go to HELL – which is where, NOT Jerusalem, they belong. Time too, to put the Romneys of the worlds feet to the fire and say no more promises. Israel is an ally, and you know exactly what the Arabs are. The capital is now Jerusalem – n excuses, or we stay at home in future elections. And trust me, they will come around. You see how Ovomit nowadays is concerned over the loss of the Jewish vote. If we had leaders and people not so willing to pull that Democrat level, he and that cuckolded shrew would be even more concerned (though she’s leaving the State Department soon).
@ Andrew:
Correct however, G-d recognizes Jewish sovereignty over Jerusalem and all of Israel and His authority abrogates all else.
The world excluding anti-Semites likewise agree.
I agree with Arnold. The rest of the world dosent recognise Israeli sovereignty over Jerusalem. So what. The rest of the world dosent recognise Russian sovereignty over the Kurile Islands; Chinese sovereignty over Tibet; English sovereignty over the falklands, Gibralter and Northern Ireland.
You simply say that this issue is closed. Next subject please.
@Arnold, I agree that Israeli Jews believe if they tell Obama and Hiliary the Jew hating pair who run foreign policy in the White House to go —- themselves, it will be the end of the Jewish people. Menachem Begin, in response to senile Ronald Reagan’s criticism (no doubt encouraged by the Jew hating kapo Weinberger) of Israel’s bombing of Iraq’s nuclear reactor, in diplomatic language told Reagan to go f–k himself. The world didn’t end. I remember Begin said (I’m paraphrasing) the Jewish people have survived terrible persecution for 3000 years and they will survive without the US , if they have to. It didn’t worsen Israel’s position with the US. The US as always was , as you pointed out about how goyim treat Jews ,continued patting Israel on the back with one hand while sticking a knife in its’ back with the other. Reagan the senile worm set up Israel to be the fall guy for Iran contra. You are wrong about Pollard. He was not a naval officer . Therefore, your suggestion he was some kind of traitor is ridiculous. He was a civilian employee at the NSA. If he would have worked for the US and was stationed in Israel and spied on Israel, he would not have spent a day in jail. But he committed the crime of being Jewish and being in the clutches of the US Federal government. That apparently is worse than murder according the state Department. Therefore, Pollard has and will serve a life sentence without parole. I had contact in my job with a double murderer who only served 8 years. If the Jews called out Obama for his Nazi-like behavior, the Republicans due not only to the possibility of weakening Jewish support for Obama would strongly rally to the side of Israel and they control the House so what can that worm Obama do that he hasn’t already done to Israel. Apparently Obama is friendly with some white ,European countries , as long as they are enemies or potential enemies of the the country he hates most or second most: The USA. He was overheard on an open mike saying how after he is reelected (which will not happen) he will be more “flexible” (in his ability to stab more US allies in the back). After Poland sent troops to Iraq, he rewarded them by cancelling the missile defense system. He is only being consistent. He punished Poland because they supported the US. It is not a major exaggeration to describe the Obama presidency is the equivalent in its’ destructiveness to the US as combining the 1918 Spanish influenza epidemic which killed millions in the US plus the black death of Middle Ages x 5.
@ keelie:
Keelie,
A long time ago, I learned from my Dad, Max Harris, who who grew up in a small Midwestern American town and who later served overseas with General Blackjack Pershing’s “Doughboys” in World War I, that being respected, compared to being liked, is akin to dollars compared to pennies. He wasn’t too articulate, not having anything like the formal education I was able to get access to, but’s thats they way he always acted.
Arnold Harris
Mount Horeb WI
@ Mike Packer:
Mike, I’m not too much into the official theology of this stuff, but isn’t it me who’s supposed to be listening to G-d?
On the other hand, some of my hearing has gone south, from a couple of years in the US Army’s heavy artillery, and more recently, some 18 years of my regular shooting on gun ranges here in southern Wisconsin, Knob Creek, Kentucky, etc.
Anyway, if He indeed is listening, I just want Him to know that there are at least a few Jews around who want Him to know He chose wisely.
Arnold Harris
Mount Horeb WI
@ ArnoldHarris:
Well said.
I had some polite but straight words with some folks on a web site who were going on about “Zionists”. It seems (and this is not surprising) that hard-as-nails Jews are far more likely to be “liked” (aka “feared”) than the soft ass-kissing type.
The US State Department and its fearless leader do what they do because, as you say, we let them, both in words and deeds.
@ ArnoldHarris:
Well said Arnold….from your mouth to G-d’s ear!!
What exactly do you people want, the appearance of Jewish control over undivided Jerusalem, or the reality of that control?
It mainly sounds, from the incessant tales of woe that I read on Israpundit, that most of you are more concerned about all the goyim, unimportant as well as super-important, smiling at you, patting you on your collective back, and saying:
“Yes, Jews, we love you endlessly. Here’s your Certificate of Merit and Acceptance”.
But if all of you were raised on the tough-as-nails streets of Chicago, as I was back in the late 1930s and wartime 1940s, you would know that all their smiles are two-faced, and all their Certificates of Merit and Acceptance are useful for little more than wiping your asses, just in case you ran out of the softer paper.
Now let’s talk about the reality of control. It means that your (hopefully) Jewish government and (hopefully Jewish supreme court has the power to allow Jews to live, work and travel through any part of your undecided capital city. And since that same ostensibly Jewish government awarded control of the ancient Jewish temple mount to some blatherskite Arab Muslim Jerusalem Wakf council — whatever the hell that is — back in 1967 or 1968, that same ostensibly Jewish government has the power to revoke that control, and to tell the Wakf, the UNO, the US State Department and all the rest of the world goyim to kiss your collective Jewish asses.
The reality of control means you and you alone determine who gets to live in whatever neighborhood, and to use the general powers of your national, regional and municipal governments to exercise eminent domain to take away property for what these governments determine is a higher and better land use, relative to the general wishes of the Jewish voting public that so empowers your various levels of government.
With that kind of real power, as opposed to the smile-at-me-but-knife-me-in-the-back treatment that is all you ever will get from the US State Department and probably also the US Defense Department — at least ever since Pollock disgraced his oath as a US naval officer and sold their secrets to your government, you could manipulate land control in Jerusalem as if the US government didn’t even exist.
All it takes is power, and the force of will to use that power. You already have that power, but the people you put in public office to run your affairs act toward the goyim as if they were little more than a cowardly pack of dogs.
Is that the way you want to world to regard our Jewish nation and your Jewish state? And if so, when does all this crap end, and you start acting solely in your own interests, like normal folks do?
Arnold Harris
Mount Horeb WI
@ BlandOatmeal:
That should do it!!! 😛
Stat Dept. Press Conference:
Obama State Department Won’t Say If Jerusalem Is The Capital Of Israel
🙂 In 2008 Obama said “Jerusalem will remain the capital of Israel and it must remain? undivided.” 🙁
Close it down with demonstrations!
I wrote my congressman about this. What Carolyn experienced at the US Consulate is despicable.