Tzipi Hotovely, Israel’s new deputy foreign minister, vowed to continue building Jewish-only settlements across the occupied West Bank, including East Jerusalem, in a recent speech to ministry employees.
Hotovely is a member of Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu’s hardlineLikud party which returned to power in Israel’s 17 March elections at the head of one of the most right-wing coalition governments in the country’s history.
Because Netanyahu is presently serving as acting foreign minister, Hotovely is the highest ranking diplomat for the time being, Associated Press reports. “This land is ours,” she said. “All of it is ours. We did not come here to apologize for that.”
Announcing that she intends to seek international recognition of Israeli settlements, she said: “We expect as a matter of principle of the international community to recognize Israel’s right to build homes for Jews in their homeland, everywhere.”
Considered illegal under international law, more than half a million Israeli settlers live in colonies across the West Bank, including East Jerusalem.
“We sought to present arguments that would play well diplomatically, but currently it’s important to be right. We need to get back to the basic truth of our right to this land,” Hotovely also said, according to Israeli daily Haaretz.
Hotovely cited a number of religious texts to justify her claims to Palestinian land. “Rashi says the Torah opens with the story of the creation of the world so that if the nations of the world come and tell you that you are occupiers, you must respond that all of the land belonged to the creator of the world and when he wanted to, he took from them and gave to us,” she said, citing medieval scholar Rabbi Shlomo Ben Yitzhaki by his abbreviated name.
http://www.globalresearch.ca/this-land-is-ours-says-israels-top-diplomat-citing-religious-texts-to-justify-jewish-settlements-in-the-west-bank/5451667
Since when does the Torah override international law? Has the Kingdom of G-d come into being?
US Constitution, First Amendment
Congress shall make no law respecting an establishment of religion, or prohibiting the free exercise thereof ...
The "Jewish State" being created by Israel is "an establishment of religion". According to our Constitution, the US should neither support nor hinder it.
But the larger question is this: how can a religious text which is not even recognized by most of the world's people be used as a pretext for overriding international law?
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