Sunday, March 14, 2010

Likud MK: Why are We Apologizing?


Maayana Miskin
A7 News

MK Yariv Levin (Likud) spoke to Arutz Sheva's Hebrew news service on Thursday and expressed confusion over Prime Minister Binyamin Netanyahu's apology regarding construction in Jerusalem. “We have the absolute right to build anywhere in the land of Israel and especially in Jerusalem, there doesn't need to be any policy of apologizing,” he said. Netanyahu apologized to United States Vice President Joe Biden over the approval of a construction project in the Jewish neighborhood of Ramat Shlomo in Jerusalem. Biden had condemned the project, saying it could undermine talks with the Palestinian Authority, which claims the land on which Ramat Shlomo is built as Arab territory.

Foreign attempts to dictate Israeli policy in Jerusalem are “blatant interference,” Levin said. “This is an internal matter, not an international matter,” he explained.

"How can it be that we need permission from the Americans every time we want to build a neighborhood or a house in Jerusalem?” Levin said. The American condemnation of Israeli plans to build in Jerusalem exposed the real problem, the problem of Israel's willingness to accept foreign meddling in domestic affairs, he stated.

"The time has come for us to stand up for ourselves. I have no doubt that if we do so, the world will see us differently,” he said.

America's attempt to interfere in Jewish housing projects in Jerusalem is the result of the building freeze in Judea and Samaria, said Levin. “We warned [Netanyahu] that it was a slippery slope, and that the building freeze would lead to interference in construction in Jerusalem, and that's what happened,” he said.

To correct the problem “we need to resume construction in Judea and Samaria immediately, and stop allowing interference in our internal affairs,” he said, adding, “We need to emphasize the unity of Jerusalem.”

Comment: Let's stop pretending this is such a big deal and how horrible it must be for the Palestinian Arabs who have yet to fulfill any signed agreement with us. Let us remember that this "building" for over 14 years after 1993 was agreed to NEVER was presented as an obstacle. Only when a new Administration with leanings away from Israel and favor towards these same Arabs and then a media that promoted and promulgated the story did the concept gain "ploitical legs".

No comments: