Did President Obama adopt UN and Palestinian phraseology last week when calling on Israel to give up the West Bank and eastern sections of Jerusalem, including the Temple Mount?
Some members of the Israeli government reacted angrily to Obama’s strongly-worded demand – expressed during his speech to the UN General Assembly – for the creation of a “viable, independent Palestinian state with contiguous territory that ends the occupation that began in 1967.”
It is unusual for U.S. presidents to describe Israel’s presence in the West Bank and Jerusalem as an “occupation” although Jimmy Carter once famously called Israel’s presence in the West Bank and eastern Jerusalem “illegal.”
PA Instigated Temple Mount Violence
The Palestinian Authority was behind violent clashes on the Temple Mount earlier this week that left 24 people wounded hours before the start of Yom Kippur, according to both Israeli security sources and a source inside the PA.
Clashes between Israeli police and Palestinian worshipers erupted at the Temple Mount and at several sites throughout Jerusalem’s Old City just as a group of Jewish visitors ascended the Mount.
Much of the Palestinian news media claimed the Jewish worshipers were right-wing Israeli extremists who ascended the Mount to threaten the site. In actuality, many of the dozen-or-so Jewish visitors were tourists and part of a guided group that regularly ascends the Mount.
The clashes had all the trappings of a pre-planned Palestinian campaign. Indeed, Israeli security officials told WorldNetDaily they have specific information that Ahmed Rweihi, the chief of the PA’s so-called Jerusalem unit, was in touch with demonstration leaders at the Temple Mount the past few days and personally incited today’s violence.
A PA official, speaking on condition of anonymity, did not deny that Rweihi helped incite the clashes.
In the past the PA has orchestrated riots on the Temple Mount that later escalated into massive terrorist campaigns as a means to pressure Israel into extreme concessions.
Obama Doesn’t Want Netanyahu
Going To Congress
In recent weeks, the Obama administration has worked to prevent Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu from working with pro-Israel members of Congress in an attempt to ease White House pressure against the Jewish state, according to senior Palestinian officials speaking to this column.
The Palestinian officials said White House members met with certain Democrat and Republican members of Congress to brief them on Obama’s positions regarding the Israeli-Palestinian conflict and the need to create a Palestinian state within two years.
The officials, speaking on condition of anonymity, said the administration feared Netanyahu might turn to pro-Israel members of Congress to help ease American pressure regarding final status-talks and a U.S. demand that Israel halt all settlement activity in the West Bank and eastern sections of Jerusalem.
According to the Palestinian officials, the Obama administration also has been embarking on a campaign to raise the Capitol Hill profile of J Street, a far-left Mideast activist organization that opposes Israel’s Jewish communities in the West Bank and eastern Jerusalem and recently opposed stronger sanctions against Iran.
The officials said the White House briefed the Palestinian Authority on its congressional lobbying activities as part of its efforts to convince PA President Mahmoud Abbas to attend last week’s brief three-way Mideast summit.
Netanyahu’s Office:
‘We Won’t Dignify Brzezinski With A Response’
Both the Israeli government and the IDF refused to respond to comments by former Carter official Zbigniew Brzezinski who said the U.S. should confront Israeli jets if Israel chooses to take military action against Iran’s nuclear installations.
“We will not dignify Brzezinski with a response,” a source in Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu’s office told WND.
“Are we just going to sit there and watch?” Brzezinski asked.
He said the U.S. has to be “serious” about denying Israel the right to fly over U.S.-patrolled airspace in Iraq to attack Iran.
“That means a denial where you aren’t just saying it. If they fly over, you go up and confront them. They have the choice of turning back or not,” he said.
“No one wishes for this, but it could be a Liberty in reverse,” he said.
The Liberty was a U.S. ship in international waters in the Middle East during the Six-Day War in 1967 that was hit by Israeli gunfire.
Aaron Klein is Jerusalem bureau chief for WorldNetDaily.com. He appears throughout the week on leading U.S. radio programs and is the author of the book “The Late Great State of Israel.” Follow Klein on Twitter under the name “AaronKleinWND.”
