Rebuffing EU, Netanyahu Says ‘No Limits’ On Jerusalem Construction

[Purveyor]

There will be “no limits” to construction in Jerusalem, Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu said during a cabinet meeting on Sunday.

His comments come two days after the European Union, Britain and France condemned the Interior Ministry’s approval of a plan to build almost 800 new housing units in Gilo, a southern Jerusalem neighborhood beyond the 1967 Green Line.

“We are not imposing any restrictions on construction in Jerusalem. It is our capital,” Netanyahu said. He added Israel has a connection to Jerusalem as “ancient and powerful” as other states do to their capital.

Gilo is part of the city captured during the 1967 Six Day War and subsequently annexed to Israel proper, a move contested by the international community and the Palestinians.

MORE...

http://www.timesofisrael.com/rebuffing-eu-netanyahu-says-no-limits-on-jerusalem-construction/

[azurnoir]

1. well he is up for re-election

I suppose we can expect more of these statements in the coming months, must appear strong in the face of the EU

[ProgressiveProfessor]

2. Still waiting for the US to build its new embasssy in Jerusalem

We have the land. It is not in a disputed portion of the city

[Ken Burch]

4. There's no reason to do it.

Accepting Jerusalem as capital would be a disruptive, pro-Likud stance for the U.S. to take.

[Ken Burch]

3. More proof that Bibi never wanted peace.

I hope Israeli voters will do the sensible thing and turf this bastard out. Netanyahu isn't making that country any safer.

[Purveyor]

6. Just doesn't fit with his "master plan". Nope, not at all. israel thrives on war and weapons and

US taxpayers dollar.

[Ken Burch]

7. Its leaders do.

There is always a difference between the interests of the leaders and the interests of the people. That is universal.

[LeftishBrit]

8. As a matter of fact...

most countries thrive directly or indirectly on war and weapons. The military industrial complex is one of the few industries that is still thriving despite the recession. Very sad, and hard for the world to dig itself out of that hole.

[LeftishBrit]

9. And a big ugh to Netanyahu, and his even more right wing coalition partners.

Come on Israelis, elect a more reasonable government.

And yes, before anyone else says it, the UK also needs to elect a more reasonable government.

[azurnoir]

10. Netanyahu tours settlement after EU condemnation

JERUSALEM (Reuters) -- Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu paid a visit to the illegal settlement of Gilo on Tuesday in a defiant prelude to talks with the European Union's top diplomat, who has condemned Gilo's expansion.

Israel issued a detailed plan last week for 797 additional homes in Gilo, an urban complex built in a part of the occupied West Bank that it captured in a 1967 Middle East war and later annexed to Jerusalem.

"United Jerusalem is Israel's eternal capital, we have a full right to build in it," Netanyahu said during a tour of Gilo, a day before he was due to meet Catherine Ashton, the EU's high representative for foreign affairs.

In a statement reflecting long-standing EU policy, Ashton said on Friday she deeply regretted the planned expansion of Gilo, where some 40,000 Israelis live.

http://www.maannews.net/eng/ViewDetails.aspx?ID=531608

[holdencaufield]

11. The Europeans lost the right ...

... to tell Jews where they could and couldn't live 70 years ago.

I see no reason for ANY government in Israel (left or right) to pay them any heed.

[Mimosa]

12. Holden, I have a question

Long ago on reading the history of 20th century antisemitism, WWII and the Holocaust, it seemed to me that after the Axis was crushed when the victors were rearranging maps and dividing the spoils would have been an opportunity to give the European Jews a land of their own on their home continent.

If I'd been alive back then I could have easily predicted sending a few million European Jews to settle in Palestine would become a source of never ending conflict.

Why wasn't it considered for the surviving mainly Eastern European Jews to resettle in a place on their home continent?

[shira]

13. Israel's re-establishment started decades before WW2.

Back in the late 1800's, actually.

Israel was not a response to the Holocaust.

[holdencaufield]

14. Besides the fact ...

... that Jews have live continuously in Israel for 3,000 years? Do you really think Europe is the "home continent" of the Jews? Do you think all Jews in Israel are European?

But, the larger questions is ... who cares? Israel is where it is, nothing you can do or say will change that. Unless, like many who are anti-Israel, you hold on to that fantasy that, some day, after enough rockets and suicide bombers have been launched against them, the Jews will just pack up again and move somewhere else.