Tax-Exempt U.S. Funds Aiding West Bank Settlements In Direct Opposition To Obama's Stated Peace Plan Goals

New York Times:

HAR BRACHA, West Bank -- Twice a year, American evangelicals show up at a winery in this Jewish settlement in the hills of ancient Samaria to play a direct role in biblical prophecy, picking grapes and pruning vines.

Read the whole story: New York Times

Comments

[theseusofaustralia]

10:28 AM on 07/07/2010

Israel gets foreighn aid for a reason its a friend to America, one of their best friends.

[eileenflemingWAWA]

08:46 PM on 07/06/2010

Background Information and Deeper Facts than The New York Times @
http://www.wearewideawake.org/index.php?option=com_content&task=view&id=1774&Itemid=235

[atlantis1star]

05:25 PM on 07/06/2010

Shut down the bank transfers of the Billion of Dollars flowing from America to Israel and you will see the illegal West Bank settlements stop. Israel is raping America for their own enrichment.

[WarriorLemming]

07:36 PM on 07/06/2010

You said it! Fanned & faved.

[cdiew]

03:01 PM on 07/15/2010

We have to hold our representatives in the congress and senate responsible for this. Let them know how you feel through letters, telephone calls, sit-in's, protest and any other means of lawful protest.

[riverhouse]

04:46 PM on 07/06/2010

The funny thing is that these Christian fundamentalist whackos are doing this so that Israel can claim dominion over the Middle East and Jesus will then come back to earth riding a white horse and swinging flaming swords with which he slays all Jews. It's the stupidest idea alive in the world today, but there are a lot of nutjobs out there in America.

[WarriorLemming]

07:45 PM on 07/06/2010

Yeah, our foreign policy being set by religious beliefs it's unbelievable. Are there any sane Americans in power who have the cojones to say NO MORE! When election time comes again this will be one of the top concerns I have for a candidate--if they are seem a little too cozy with the Jewish lobbyists then they're out! NO MORE American tax money for Israel's wars!

[megaton1212]

09:51 PM on 07/06/2010

Can you imagine what would happen if America stopped sending billions in foreign aid, the most we send to any country, to Israel? Those guys in the Yeshiva discussed in the article, the ones living in the illegal settlements, they don't have any job, and they and their families are on welfare that is subsidized by our government, through tax breaks to donors. Their job is to pray all day and "study" torah, which means that they argue about arcane rules of ultra orthodox judaism.If their money dried up, they would be set upon by the 100s of millions of enemies they have created all around them. Then, the IDF would have to step in, and voila, armageddon. This is a most urgent situation, and there appears to be no way of extracing ourselves. If the money runs out, and their enemies finally push Israel into the sea, it would be a a bizarre example of self-fulfilling prophecy. Future generatiions, if there are any, will study this period with great curiosity and horror.

[deltalady]

04:41 PM on 07/06/2010

I live in San Antonio, the home base of John Hagee's Cornerstone Church and powerful CPAC. The Hagee family live in the Dominion, the most exclusive gated community in San Antonio. Their neighbors are NBA players, wealthy real estate investors, and whomever else can afford the multimillion $ homes on the hill. The church has "Support for Israel" fundraisers masquerading as church services several times a year. I shake with anger when I realize how much $$ this man is stealing & using for political influence. The idea that these churches are tax-exempt is madness. Check out his sermon..the backdrop is fighter jets, mushroom clouds, pix of Saddam & Ahmandijad...nothing abt the love of Christ. It's sad that he has a captive audience to brainwash because that's exactly what he is doing. I think all churches should lose their tax exempt status & be able to prove on their taxes where the $$ goes. If it goes back into the community, I'm all for it, but using tax dollars for private jets & personal indulgences should remain right where it belongs....in the Congress!!

[JoeBlough]

04:36 PM on 07/06/2010

Is that Bobby Jindal in that photograph?

[Occam123]

03:37 PM on 07/06/2010

When and if final negotiations ever occur for final border status, the main block of Israeli towns in West Bank will remain in Israel, of course, This is beyond doubt.
The various isolated outposts unapproved by Israeli authorities will be dismantled. This is also axiomatic.
In Jerusalem buildings built without municipal permits t by Jerusalem Arabs will be ( and should be ) dismantled also.

[caffeineod]

05:20 PM on 07/06/2010

Perhaps, buildings built without Palestinian Authority or Hamas permits should be taken down since it is their lands that are being built upon by European and American invaders

[Occam123]

06:20 PM on 07/06/2010

Well, there was an exchange of populations-- Palestinian Jews left Arab controlled territories. Palestinain Arabs left Jewish controlled territories.
Palestinian Jews declared a state. Palestinain Arabs decided not to declare a state.

History clearly proven who did the smart thing.

C'est la guerre

[atlantis1star]

01:56 PM on 07/06/2010

Last week Secretary-General Ban Ki-moon voiced his deep concern at the news that the municipality of Jerusalem has advanced planning for the demolition of existing homes and the construction of further settlements in Silwan, noting that the planned moves are in violation of international law, and to the wishes of Palestinian residents.

International law does not allow Israel to bulldoze Palestinian homes to make space for the mayor’s project to build a garden, or anything else.

This situation should be seen within the context of Israel’s persistent, systematic approach to driving Palestinians out of their land, including by denying them permission to construct homes, declaring their homes illegal, forcibly removing families, and then destroying their homes – all to make way for Israeli settlements.

[Occam123]

02:54 PM on 07/06/2010

"International law does not allow Israel to bulldoze Palestinian homes."

So called "International law" was remarkably silent when Palestinians and Jordanians for twenty were ethnically cleansing W. Bank and Jeruslam of thousand-year old Jewish communities and reduced Jewish populations of those areas to zero!

Luckily, IDF allowed those Jews who wish to live in their previous homes to rebuild their former indigenous communities.

[riverhouse]

04:51 PM on 07/06/2010

I'd like to see a land deed signed by God.

[hello All]

10:01 PM on 07/06/2010

"So called "International law" was remarkably silent when.............."

So called "International law" should remain silent forever? Is that what you are saying?

[MajorKong]

01:43 PM on 07/06/2010

My neighbor gets really upset every time I try to build a settlement in his back yard.

I told him that my holy book clearly states that the land was promised to me 3000 years ago, but he's not buying it.

He wandered off muttering something about a shotgun....

[TheLonelyGod]

03:16 PM on 07/06/2010

Except that it was never really "his yard" was it. Nor is Israel's claim to the settlements based on any "holy book."

[cdiew]

03:36 PM on 07/06/2010

Of course it is. Israel's very existence is based upon western guilt and a Holy Book. Israeli's are not a race. They are a group of people who follow a Holy Book. Israel did not exist until 1948. Settling land conquered in war is illegal under international law. International law is not based on what a man in the bronze age said a bush told him about another peoples land. I'm sorry, but that's the truth.

[raptor]

09:47 PM on 07/06/2010

Your claim may be stronger than you think. "But revolutionary new archaeological data and the latest DNA research reveal that Europeans visited our shores ... some 17,000 years before Columbus was even born."
http://topdocumentaryfilms.com/ice-age-columbus-who-were-the-first-americans/

[roybattyjunior]

01:27 PM on 07/06/2010

Sleazy land grab...

[Krek]

02:15 PM on 07/06/2010

Yep.

[hello All]

01:16 PM on 07/06/2010

Evangelicals and Israel

Know more about these connections in "Waiting For Armageddon" documentary.

Those who have Netflix, it is currently available for instant play.

[cdiew]

03:11 PM on 07/06/2010

I just watched it. Scary! These people are certifiable. They claim to love Jews but it seems to me they're setting them up for some sort of blood sacrifice. Only 144,000 are going to be saved out of the whole population of Jews in Israel, according to these whackos. So they promote the settlement enterprise to get as many Jews back to the 'Holy Land' as possible to trigger Armageddon so Christ, a peaceful philosopher according to people who wrote about him, can destroy the whole of mankind except for a bunch of right wing, racist, bloodthirsty, suicidal charlatans. Right! Got It. When did church become so crazy? I grew up in the 70's and 80's when it seems positive things were promoted and nobody mentioned Israel or the Jews, end times or the apacalypse. What happened since then?

[WarriorLemming]

07:53 PM on 07/06/2010

You're fanned and faved, thanks for laying it all out there so that people can see how our foreign policy has been handled under Bush who bought into this extreme religious crapola.

[Occam123]

03:15 PM on 07/06/2010

I also recommend Fitna, an important, although too short film.
http://wikileaks.org/wiki/Fitna_anti-islam_movie_by_Geert_Wilders
http://fitna-koran.blogspot.com/

[alysheba 3]

04:25 PM on 07/06/2010

Geert Wilders? HAHAHAHHAHAHAHAHAHAHHAHAHAHAHHA

[hello All]

05:19 PM on 07/06/2010

There is a difference between a documentary and propoganda vidoes meant to promote hatered and violence. The title on the link you posted read "Fitna anti-islam movie........". The title clearly explains the purpose of the movie. Also the Amsterdam Court of Appeal ordered prosecution of Mr. Wilders, the person whose movie you are promoting, for what it said was "the incitement to hatred and discrimination". So essentially you are promoting hatred and discrimination.

[Left of Right]

12:37 PM on 07/06/2010

What kind of shape would our country be in today if we kept our money at home????

[pliars]

12:35 PM on 07/06/2010

When did murder, social injustice and theft become Christian values?

[Left of Right]

12:45 PM on 07/06/2010

When Sarah Palin took the stage.

[pindiva]

12:47 PM on 07/06/2010

Sometime before the reformation.

[tbone99]

01:35 PM on 07/06/2010

tell it !

[boyd3b]

12:32 PM on 07/06/2010

How are these settlements any different from any other form of immigrant migration. It amuses me that the very people who are opposed to these Israeli settlements have no problem with our own open borders and the tens of thousands of immigrants that enter this country every year illegally.

[pindiva]

12:49 PM on 07/06/2010

Well, one thing they have in common is they are both illegal.

[alysheba 3]

02:41 PM on 07/06/2010

Ever heard of the Geneva Conventions? You know, the treaties Israel signed stating that it wouldn't steal land.

[TheLonelyGod]

03:17 PM on 07/06/2010

Ever heard of the Geneva Conventions? You know the treaties that prohibit the Palestinians from using terrorism,

[WarriorLemming]

08:07 PM on 07/06/2010

And steal land they did just take a look at the map since 1946:

http://i49.tinypic.com/23iwbr6.jpg

[barkrudedog69]

12:18 PM on 07/06/2010

If we end it...we end it for ALL groups.....as stated in the article: Of course, groups in the pro-settler camp are not the only ones benefiting from tax breaks. For example, the Free Gaza Movement, which organized the flotilla seeking to break Israel’s blockade of Gaza, says on its Web site that supporters can make tax-deductible donations to it through the American Educational Trust, publisher of an Arab-oriented journal. Israeli civil and human rights groups like Peace Now, which are often accused of having a blatant political agenda, also benefit from tax-deductible donations.

[lawrence of america]

12:43 PM on 07/06/2010

great. what does that have to do with settlements. free gaza is not stealing land, they are delivering food and supplies.

[cdiew]

03:16 PM on 07/06/2010

If they have tax exempt status it's because they are legal. The settlements are illegal. That is undisputed.