White House Tells Israel To Cease Announcing Plans For New Settlements

This was the equivalent of a child getting his hand slapped when he tries to sneak a cookie off the plate.

The only difference is, it’s the child’s plate, the child’s cookies, and the person doing the slapping spent a lot of time leading them to believe they could have their cookies, whenever they wanted.

The Jerusalem Post is reporting that the White House is warning Israel to halt any talks of settlement building that is unilateral, or that “undermines” Donald Trump’s efforts to gain glory for himself put together some sort of peace agreement between Israel and Palestine.

Since Trump took office, Israel has announced plans for 5,500 new settlements along the West Bank.

Apparently, this was done without reaching out to the White House, first.

A White House official confirmed that they were not informed of the plans, and that Trump intends to bring up the matter when he means with Prime Minister Netanyahu on February 15, in Washington.

“As President Trump has made clear, he is very interested in reaching a deal that would end the Israeli-Palestinian conflict and is currently exploring the best means of making progress toward that goal,” the official said.

“With that in mind, we urge all parties to refrain from taking unilateral actions that could undermine our ability to make progress, including settlement announcements,” the official added. “The administration needs to have the chance to fully consult with all parties on the way forward.”

Up until this announcement from the administration, Israel has received mixed signals from Trump.

Since Trump became the leader of the party, mention of a two-state solution was removed from the Republican party platform.

Trump’s envoy to Israel has publicly supported settlements.

Trump has, however, repeatedly called peace between Israel and the Palestinians the “ultimate deal” – one that he has tasked Jared Kushner, a top adviser and his son-in-law, with moderating.

“I think it’s designed to chill some of the exuberance of those on the Israeli Right who think they have a blank check,” Dennis Ross, a senior Middle East diplomat and veteran of the George H.W. Bush, Clinton and Obama administrations, told the Post. “I think that exuberance got their attention. I just don’t think they want any announcements that will surprise them, and they’re still in the process of formulating what their policy is going to be.

“It sounds like they want to convey a pretty blunt message,” Ross added.

Still, Israel has been emboldened by having Trump in the White House.

After 8 years of Obama, I suppose nearly anybody looks more promising.

The post White House Tells Israel To Cease Announcing Plans For New Settlements appeared first on RedState.