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Tag: Gaza

  • Benjamin Netanyahu Slams John Kerry’s Speech, Thanks Donald Trump For Friendship

    Benjamin Netanyahu Slams John Kerry’s Speech, Thanks Donald Trump For Friendship

    Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu took parting swipes Wednesday at the Obama administration, calling John Kerry’s earlier speech “unbalanced” but saying he had “no doubt” the alliance between the countries would endure despite disagreements.

    Earlier Wednesday, Secretary of State John Kerry defended the Obama administration’s decision to abstain from voting on a U.N. resolution condemning Israeli settlement activity in areas Palestinians seek for a state. Allowing it to pass was seen by some as a slap to Israel. He questioned Netanyahu’s commitment to Palestinian statehood, which has been the basis for serious peace talks.

    “If the choice is one state, Israel can either be Jewish or democratic, it cannot be both, and it won’t ever really be at peace,” Kerry said.

    Kerry’s speech came amid the final days of an administration that has had tense relations with Israel. President-elect Donald Trump has vowed to repair the relationship. Trump has condemned Obama for allowing the resolution to pass and said Wednesday that the current president has put up “roadblocks” for Trump’s transition.

    Trump’s comments on U.S.-Israeli relations clash with past precedent in which presidents-elect did not comment on foreign policy until they took office.

    Netanyahu on Wednesday thanked Trump on Twitter for his “warm friendship” and “clear-cut support for Israel” after the president-elect tweeted that Israel should “stay strong” as his administration approaches.

    Netanyahu said Kerry’s speech was “almost as unbalanced” as the U.N. resolution, which he harshly criticized. He said that peace will not be achieved through speeches or U.N. resolutions but through direct talks.

    “Israel remains committed to resolving the outstanding difference between us and the Palestinians with direct negotiations,” Netanyahu said.

    He also contended that Kerry spent “most of his speech blaming Israel for the lack of peace.”

    In his speech, Kerry stressed that Obama’s commitment to Israel has been as strong as previous presidents, giving assurances that the Obama administration is not planning any other parting shots at Israel and saying it would not recognize Palestinian statehood. He did not focus only on Israel’s failings in the peace process, criticizing Palestinian leaders’ “incitement” of violence.

    Obama has expressed frustration about the growth of Israeli settlements, and Israel’s government has argued that curbing them should not be a precondition to peace talks.

     

    Source: www.cnbc.com

  • Benjamin Netanyahu ‘Told New Zealand Backing UN Vote Would Be Declaration Of War’

    Benjamin Netanyahu ‘Told New Zealand Backing UN Vote Would Be Declaration Of War’

    Benjamin Netanyahu reportedly told New Zealand’s foreign minister that support for a UN resolution condemning Israeli settlement-building in the occupied territories would be viewed as a “declaration of war”.

    According to reports in Israeli media, the Israeli PM called Murray McCully, the foreign minister of New Zealand, before Friday’s resolution, which was co-sponsored by Wellington. Netanyahu told him: “This is a scandalous decision. I’m asking that you not support it and not promote it.

    “If you continue to promote this resolution, from our point of view it will be a declaration of war. It will rupture the relations and there will be consequences. We’ll recall our ambassador [from New Zealand] to Jerusalem.”

    McCully, however, refused to back down, telling Netanyahu: “This resolution conforms to our policy and we will move it forward.”

    A western diplomat confirmed that the call took place and described the conversation as “harsh”.

    The details of the call – disclosed in Haaretz – suggest a mounting sense of panic on the part of Netanyahu in the run-up to the UN security council resolution that passed on Friday demanding an end to settlement building.

    As well as the Netanyahu call, a senior official in Israel’s foreign ministry called New Zealand’s ambassador to Israel, Jonathan Curr, and warned that if the resolution came to a vote, Israel might close its embassy in Wellington in protest.

    Israel responded furiously to the vote, threatening diplomatic reprisals against the countries that voted in favour. Diplomatic ties with New Zealand were temporarily severed and ambassador Itzhak Gerberg was recalled.

    But in a sign that the international pressure may be being felt by the Netanyahu administration, scheduled plans to consider for approval 600 new settlement houses in occupied east Jerusalem were abruptly removed from the agenda of the city’s municipality on Wednesday.

    Netanyahu’s language and behaviour – which has resulted in ambassadors being reprimanded and consultations with foreign leaders, including the UK’s Theresa May, cancelled – has raised eyebrows among foreign diplomats, who point out that the UN resolution does no more than confirm the longstanding view of the international community on Jewish settlements.

    Later on Wednesday the US secretary of state, John Kerry, will make a speech outlining the parameters for how the Obama administration sees a settlement of the Middle East peace process.

    Kerry’s speech, less than a month before Barack Obama leaves office, is expected to be the current administration’s last word on a decades-old dispute that Kerry had hoped to resolve during his four years as America’s top diplomat.

    It could also be seen in Israel as another parting shot at Netanyahu, who has had an acrimonious relationship with Obama since they both took office in 2009. Israel’s public security minister, Gilad Erdan, told Israel Army Radio that the planned speech was a “pathetic move” and “anti-democratic”.

    The US on Friday broke with a longstanding approach of diplomatically shielding Israel and abstained on a United Nations security council resolution that passed with 14 countries in favour and none against.

    An Egyptian paper supportive of the country’s president, Abdel Fatah al-Sisi, reported what it said was a leaked memo allegedly confirming Israel’s allegations that the Obama administration and Palestinian officials had coordinated positions over the wording of the resolution to allow the US to abstain in the vote. The state department denied the report.

     

    Source: www.theguardian.com

  • New Zealand Defends UN Resolution Critical Of Israeli Settlements

    New Zealand Defends UN Resolution Critical Of Israeli Settlements

    WELLINGTON (AFP) – New Zealand said on Saturday (Dec 24) the United Nations Security Council resolution condemning Israeli settlements should have come as no surprise to the Jewish State, after Israel retaliated by recalling its ambassador to Wellington.

    New Zealand co-sponsored the resolution which described the settlements in the occupied territories as a major stumbling block to Middle East peace efforts, as they are built on land the Palestinians consider part of their future state.

    There was applause in the UN chamber when the first resolution by the United Nations Security Council (UNSC) in more than 38 years to condemn Israel over its settlement policy was passed 14-0, with the country’s key ally the United States abstaining.

    Israel refused to recognise the resolution with Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu’s spokesman Ofir Gendelman tweeting that their ambassadors to New Zealand and Senegal, who co-sponsored the resolution, were to return to Israel immediately.

    “These steps are taken against countries that have tabled the draft resolution to the UNSC and have diplomatic relations with Israel,” he said.

    New Zealand Foreign Minister Murray McCully said the decision should have been no surprise to Israel which knew Wellington’s position long before the UN vote.

    “Israel has informed us of their decision to recall their ambassador to New Zealand for consultations,” McCully told AFP in a statement.

    “We have been very open about our view that the (Security Council) should be doing more to support the Middle East peace process and the position we adopted today is totally in line with our long established policy on the Palestinian question.

    “The vote today should not come as a surprise to anyone and we look forward to continuing to engage constructively with all parties on this issue.”

    The resolution demands that “Israel immediately and completely cease all settlement activities in the occupied Palestinian territory, including East Jerusalem.” It states that Israeli settlements have “no legal validity” and are “dangerously imperilling the viability of the two-state solution”.

    Netanyahu’s office described the UN move as a “shameful anti-Israel resolution”.

    Malaysia and Venezuela also sponsored the UN resolution but do not have diplomatic relations with Israel.

    New Zealand is one of 10 non-permanent members of the UNSC, whose two-year term ends this month.

     

    Source: www.straitstimes.com

  • Syiok SG: Help Sponsor Umrah For Palestinian Orphans

    Syiok SG: Help Sponsor Umrah For Palestinian Orphans

    Do your part in helping the orphans to fulfil their dreams in performing Umrah, after all they have gone through difficulties in Palestine.

    other than providing food, water, education, medical care and welfare for their daily needs, we have launched a very special programme – sending Palestinian orphans on a blessed journey to Mecca to perform Umrah.

    please help to spread this appeal for the Orphan.

    our local NGO Global Ehsan and partners looks after more than 800 orphans in the Middle East as part our orphan sponsorship programme. we were given 30 palestinian orphans for sponsorhip from Singapore.

    video for previous umrah orphan for your documentary will be released soon.

    please tag your familu and friends 😉 we want to share the good deeds.

    May Allah Bless You. Amin.

     

    Source: Syiok SG

  • Israel Delays Votes On Mosques, Palestinian Homes

    Israel Delays Votes On Mosques, Palestinian Homes

    JERUSALEM: Israel on Wednesday (Nov 30) delayed parliamentary votes on controversial bills that would limit the volume of calls to prayer at mosques and legalise several thousand Jewish settler homes in the West Bank.

    The votes were put off until next week following a decision by government ministers, a parliament spokesman told AFP.

    Deputies were to take a preliminary vote on a bill to prevent the use of loudspeakers for late night and early morning calls to prayer at mosques, a proposal that has angered Muslims.

    A first reading of a bill to legalise around 4,000 settler homes in the occupied West Bank was also planned, but both were delayed.

    The noise bill was put off until Dec 7, while the settlement bill was to come up on Monday.

    Israeli media reported that the votes were put off because a majority could not be assured. Discussions were continuing on both measures.

    The noise bill would prohibit the use of loudspeakers between 11pm and 7am. It would officially apply to all religions, but it is widely seen as targeting calls to prayer at mosques.

    The bill’s backers say it is needed because the loudspeakers are a nuisance and can also be used to broadcast inciting messages.

    Government watchdog groups say the measure is an unnecessary provocation that threatens freedom of religion. Israeli President Reuven Rivlin is among those against the bill.

    The settlement bill has tested Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu’s coalition, widely seen as the most right-wing in the country’s history.

    Netanyahu does not want the bill to pass, warning that it could violate international law and result in repercussions at the International Criminal Court.

    Countries including the United States have also strongly criticised the bill and Netanyahu is concerned over an international backlash.

    But he is also faced with holding together his coalition and not being seen as acting against the powerful settler movement.

    DEFYING NETANYAHU

    The international community considers all Israeli settlements in Israeli-annexed east Jerusalem and the West Bank to be illegal, whether they are authorised by the government or not.

    The Israeli government differentiates between those it has approved and those it has not.

    The settlement bill has been pushed by hardline members of Netanyahu’s coalition, led by Education Minister Naftali Bennett, who defied his pleas not to move forward.

    The country’s attorney general says the legislation will never hold up in court.

    But those who support it say the move is urgently needed to protect a Jewish outpost in the occupied West Bank called Amona.

    The outpost, where some 40 families live, is under a high court order to be demolished by Dec 25 because it was built on private Palestinian land.

    The bill, however, goes far beyond legalising Amona and would allow an estimated 4,000 Jewish homes in the West Bank to be legalised, according to settlement watchdog Peace Now.

    Finance Minister Moshe Kahlon, whose centre-right Kulanu party holds 10 seats, has been key and has said he will not support a measure that “harms” the country’s high court.

    The statement was a reference to Amona and the high court ruling against it – signalling he would oppose the bill if the outpost is not removed from it.

    There has been speculation that the bill could even cause the government to collapse – though a number of analysts caution that a compromise seems more likely for now.

    Peace Now called the legislation “a grand land robbery, which will lead not only to the expropriation of 8,000 dunams (nearly 2,000 acres, 800 hectares) of private Palestinian lands but might also rob Israelis and Palestinians of the possibility of arriving at a two state solution”.

     

    Source: www.channelnewsasia.com