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

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

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

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

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

US taxpayers dollar.

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

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.

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.

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

... 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.

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?

Back in the late 1800's, actually.

Israel was not a response to the Holocaust.

... 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.