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Former Attorney General Michael Ben-Yair severely criticized Israel’s conduct in the West Bank in a debate on his Facebook page over the last few days, Yedioth Ahronoth reported. “The settlements are the most evil and foolish acts since World War II,” Ben-Yair said in a post. … One of Ben-Yair’s Facebook friends, journalist Yaoz Sever, responded: “Do you claim that the settlements are worse than Pol Pot’s regime in Cambodia? Than Stalin’s crimes against his people? Than Darfur?” “Definitely,” answered Ben-Yair. “The settlement movement is a political act by a state against another people and as such is the most...

Ten days after President Obama’s June 2009 address “to the Muslim world” in Cairo, Israeli Prime Minister Binyamin Netanyahu, in a speech of his own, gently chided him for linking Jewish aspirations for a homeland with persecution and the Holocaust rather than a 3,000-year connection to the land. Judging from his itinerary, when Obama arrives Wednesday for his first presidential visit to Israel, he hopes to correct the impression that he failed to grasp what drove the Jewish dream to re-establish a state 65 years ago in the biblical land of Israel. … An argument often cited by Israeli critics...

Israeli settlers living in the Palestinian territories often deceptively give their products a “Made in Israel” label. The European Union wants to move soon to end the practice and appears to be set on a collision course with the country. … The international community has never recognized Israeli sovereignty over these areas, and the Geneva Convention outlaws the establishment of settlements within occupied territories. Nevertheless, successive Israeli governments have allowed colonies to be built up within them and, today, some 650,000 Israeli settlers live in the West Bank and East Jerusalem. …

Germany and three other European members of the U.N. Security Council are preparing a statement condemning Israel’s latest settlement plans in east Jerusalem and the West Bank, a European diplomatic official said Tuesday. The so-called E4 grouping—permanent council members Britain and France, plus Germany and Portugal—is concerned that such settlements could threaten the possible two-state solution between Israel and the Palestinians, the official said. Details of the European statement are being finalized in New York, the diplomat said on condition of anonymity because the work was not yet completed. … The European Union—Israel’s biggest trading partner—has been increasingly vocal in...

A joint German-Israeli government meeting in Berlin on Thursday (6 December) is likely to be the scene of more disagreements between Chancellor Angela Merkel and Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu as the two traditional allies are having increased difficulty finding common ground. The scene was set already on the eve of the meeting. Netanyahu told Die Welt about his “disappointment” at Germany’s decision last week to abstain instead of saying “No” to Palestine's status upgrade within the United Nations. “I think Chancellor Merkel thought this vote would somehow promote peace. But the opposite has happened: Ever since the UN vote, the...

Palestinian Authority Chairman Mahmoud Abbas on Wednesday denounced Israel's plans to build homes in the area known as E1. AFP reported that Abbas said the plan was "a red line that cannot be tolerated" and warned he would take all the legal means available to prevent such a "dangerous" decision. "We went to all international parties to prevent this settlement decision, and if it goes ahead we will resort to all legitimate and legal methods," he warned, according to the report. E1 refers to an area that connects Jerusalem and Maaleh Adumim. It was designated nearly 20 years ago for...

Britain and France have summoned their Israeli ambassadors to protest Israel's decision to authorize housing construction in the West Bank and eastern Jerusalem. The ambassadors were summoned Monday amid reports that the two countries would recall their envoys in Israel for consultations. Sweden also has summoned its Israel ambassador, according to reports. "We deplore the recent Israeli government decision to build 3,000 new housing units and unfreeze development in the E1 block," the British Foreign Office said in a statement, threatening a "strong reaction" if construction goes ahead. "This threatens the viability of the two-state solution." The E1 corridor, which...

Denmark is fronting an EU initiative to help consumers boycott Israeli settlement products. … The move comes after EU foreign ministers in May said they will "fully and effectively implement existing EU legislation" on the subject. The EU says settlements are illegal. But its regular complaints about settlement expansion fall on deaf ears. … An Israeli source said EU pressure on settlements is nothing new. He said settlement-bashing supports the Palestinian line that settlement-building—instead of Israeli security—is the main obstacle in the peace process. …

On Tuesday, a fateful hearing took place at the Supreme Court to determine the destiny of the Jewish community of Migron. The complicated history of the site, and the legal wrangling surrounding it over the past six years, have left many people wondering where right begins and wrong ends. But regardless of one’s political views, there is something about the case that should send a shudder down the spine of every Israeli who values liberty. Standing before the justices, Osnat Mandel of the State Attorney’s Office said that Migron in its entirety should be evacuated within a few days. Mandel...

The EU is today to confirm moves to strengthen economic ties with Israel, facing off criticism that trade conditions should be frozen due to the diplomatic impasse over Israeli settlements in the occupied territories. … The EU is Israel’s main trading partner with total trade worth €29.5 billion ($35.6 billion) in 2011. The 27-member bloc agreed to its first bilateral trade deal with Israel in 2000. However, plans for a comprehensive EU-Israel free trade agreement were frozen by the EU in January 2009 following Israeli attacks on the Gaza strip. The EU said that progress on trade talks was dependent...

A fascinating development this week in Israel was the release of the report of a governmental commission whose assignment had been to define the legal status of the “occupied territories” for purposes of government policy. The commission was headed by Edmond Levy, an interesting former Supreme Court justice and one of the only ones who is not a judicial activist leftist. The Obama people are upset with the report (an indication of how good it is) and Israel’s moonbat Left is positively wetting itself in anguish. Basically the report says that the West Bank – Judea and Samaria – are...

The  legal tsunami gathering strength in  Israel will soon  engulf the world.  A report is soon to be released that says, the Fourth Geneva Convention (FGC) does not apply to Judea and Samaria aka West Bank and that Israel has every right to build settlements there. PM Netanyahu set up the Levy Committee to investigate the legal status of unauthorized  West Bank  Jewish building.  The Committee was headed by Supreme Court Justice (ret) Edmund Levy. It included Tel Aviv District Court Judge (Ret.) Tehiya Shapira and Dr. Alan Baker an international law expert, The Committee reviewed legal briefs from right...

Retired Supreme Court Justice Edmond Levy, who heads a committee tasked with examining the legality of Jewish construction in Judea and Samaria, declared on Tuesday that Israelis have a legal right to settle the region. "According to international law, Israelis have a legal right to settle all of Judea and Samaria, at the very least the lands that Israel controls under agreements with the Palestinian Authority. Therefore, the establishment of Jewish settlements [in Judea and Samaria] is, in itself, not illegal." The committee was established by Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu in efforts to determine and cement the legal status of...

Naomi Chazan was deputy speaker of the Knesset and the dean of the School of Government and Society at the Academic College of Tel Aviv-Yaffo. Given her credentials, one would have thought that she would have a good grasp of politics and law. But in a recent article published in The Forward, she stated that “Israel’s settlement enterprise...violate[s] international law” because “colonizing occupied land is illegal [based on] the Geneva Conventions,” notwithstanding the contrary opinion expressed in “the contortions of a few right-wing legal scholars.” Well, I am no legal scholar but I’d rather be on the side of those...

EU foreign ministers have "warned" Israel that they will take a tougher approach to exports originating in illegal settlements on Palestinian land. The ministers in a statement on Monday (14 May) detailing Israel's long-term campaign to expropriate Palestinian farmers in the fertile West Bank said: "The EU and its member states reaffirm their commitment to fully and effectively implement existing EU legislation and the bilateral arrangements applicable to settlement products." Under current EU law, settlement products are excluded from preferential import tariffs granted in the 12-year-old EU-Israel association agreement. Israel is obliged to indicate the originating postcode of each shipment,...

Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu said Tuesday that his Cabinet has decided to retroactively legalize three West Bank outposts that previous governments had conceded were built without permission, marking the first step toward what critics fear will become Israel's first official new settlements since 1990. Government officials said it was inaccurate to characterize the legalization process as establishing new settlements, noting that the three outposts were founded in the 1990s, reportedly with the government's blessing. Officials said the outposts only lack certain technical authorizations and planning permits, which now will be given. "This decision does not change the reality on...

Arab MK Ahmed Tibi, notorious for making statements against Israel while he serves in its parliament, has called for a boycott of products manufactured in Judea, Samaria, and east Jerusalem. Tibi made the controversial comments during a visit in Ottawa, Canada, on Monday. According to a report in The Montreal Gazette, Tibi also said he was aware that his remarks were a direct violation of the boycott law approved by the Knesset last July, though he seemed unfazed by that fact. “I said that I am willing to test this immoral law trying to prevent me, as a member of...

US vice president hosts Jewish leaders, political rivals for Rosh Hashana toast, says 'Israel is America's closest, dearest, most morally-based friend' WASHINGTON – At an annual event held at the US Vice President's residence in honor of the Jewish New Year, US Vice President Joe Biden said that "Israel is America's closest, dearest, and most morally-based friend". Biden added that there is no alternative to America's commitment to Israel. Among the guests present at the event were Biden's political rivals from the Republican Party, such as House Majority Leader Rep. Eric Cantor, as well as leaders of the American Jewish...

White House press secretary Jay Carney told reporters on Air Force One when asked about Israel's decision to build new houses in East Jerusalem: “The administration and the United States government is deeply disappointed by that announcement. We have maintained all along that each side in the dispute, the Palestinians and the Israelis, should take steps that bring them closer to direct negotiations to resolve the issues that stand in the way of Palestinian statehood and a secure Jewish state of Israel. When either side takes unilateral action that makes it harder to achieve that, we make our views known,

Defense Minister Ehud Barak says the PA should not object to Israeli construction in Judea, Samaria, and eastern Jerusalem because Israel will just hand over anything in areas ceded during talks, anyways. "There's a reality on the ground and natural population growth. People need to build kindergartens," Barak said, noting another construction freeze is not possible. "But why should the Palestinians care? If a building is constructed on land that will be transferred to them under a peace agreement, they will get the building, hence the issue if of no significance," Barak argued.