March 30, 2012, 8:28 AM
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I went to the US Consulate this week to take care of certain family business. It was a thoroughly unpleasant experience. I think it is ironic that two days after my extremely unpleasant experience at the consulate, State Department Spokeswoman Victoria Nuland refused to say what the capital of Israel is. It was ironic because anyone who visits the consulate knows that the US's position on Jerusalem is in perfect alignment with that of Israel's worst enemies.
Last time I went to the consulate was in 2007. At that time the building was located in the middle of an Arab neighborhood in eastern Jerusalem. It was unpleasant. In fact it was fairly frightening. Once inside the building I couldn't shake the feeling that the Americans had gone out of their way to make Israeli-American Jews feel uncomfortable and vaguely threatened.
But then, I was able to console myself with the thought that the US has been upfront about its rejection of Israel's right to assert its sovereignty over eastern Jerusalem. By treating Jews as foreigners in their capital city and behaving as though it belongs to the Arabs by among other things hiring only Arabs as local employees, the US officials on site were simply implementing a known US policy. True, I deeply oppose the policy, but no one was asking me, and no one was hiding anything from me.
The new consulate is much different, and much worse. The State Department opened its new consulate in Jerusalem in October 2010. It is located in the Jewish neighborhood of Arnona. It was built on the plot that Israel allocated for the US Embassy after Congress passed Jerusalem Embassy Act in 1995 requiring the US government to move its embassy to Jerusalem. I read that construction began in 2004. I haven't been able to find out whether when construction began it was to build the embassy or a new consulate so I don't know yet whether the Bush administration thought it was building an embassy that the Obama administration turned into a consulate or if the Bush administration thought it was building a consulate that the Obama administration completed.
Whatever the case, the fact that the building that was supposed to be an expression of US recognition of Israel's capital in Jerusalem is being used as the consulate is an unvarnished act of aggression against Israel and Congress.
If I am not mistaken, the US Consulate General in Jerusalem is the only US consulate in the world that is not subordinate to the embassy in the country where it is located. When it was located in a hostile Arab neighborhood in eastern Jerusalem, the fact that it was not subordinate to the US Embassy in Tel Aviv was upsetting. But it was also easily justified in light of US policy of not recognizing Israeli sovereignty in eastern, southern and northern Jerusalem.
But Arnona is in western Jerusalem. It is a Jewish neighborhood that even the most radical Israeli leftists don't envision transferring to the Palestinians in any peace deal. Putting the consulate in Arnona - and on the site reserved for the embassy no less - is the clearest expression of American rejection of all Israeli sovereign rights to Jerusalem imaginable.
And the fact that it is located in the heart of a Jewish neighborhood is far from the only problem with the building.
Israelis who live in Jerusalem and need US consular services are required to go to the consulate in Jerusalem. You can't just go to Tel Aviv to avoid the unpleasantness. This again is due to the fact that the US does not recognize ANY Israeli sovereignty over Jerusalem. From the State Department's perspective, people who live in Jerusalem -- even in Arnona and Rehavia and Ein Kerem etc. -- live in a DIFFERENT COUNTRY from people who live in Tel Aviv and Netanya. We can no more receive services from the embassy in Tel Aviv than we can receive services from the embassy in Amman.
I will be writing more about the US's adversarial treatment of Israel as embodied in its treatment of Jerusalem in next week's Jerusalem Post column. But suffice it to say here that Victoria Nuland's statement to AP reporter Matt Lee, (posted below in case you missed it), is a true depiction of America's policy on Jerusalem - and though it, on Israel.
It would be useful for someone to get Mitt Romney on record discussing his position on Jerusalem. Assuming that he says - like every other Republican presidential candidate - that he supports transferring the US embassy to Jerusalem, he should further be asked to explain how, if he is elected president, he will force the State Department to change its policies towards Israel and respect US law by treating Jerusalem as the capital of Israel.
UPDATE from Yisrael Medad:
The following is an email I received from Yisrael Medad from the Begin Center. He writes an excellent blog www.myrightword.blogspot.com
Yisrael follows the US Consulate in Jerusalem far more closely than I and here is what he was to say:
I am old enough to recall pre-1967 when the Consulate in "West Jerusalem" was where it always was for some 150 years - at Agron Street. The library was great. And by the way, the building you mention is the offices of the consular section. Political, economic and other matters are still at Agron, where the Consul-General lives.
But to the politics: A rather disturbing pattern of behavior has emerged from the US Consulate-General in Jerusalem over the past years that would point to a need for Congressional review and oversight.
Except for matters of passports, visas and birth registration, all other activities whether social, educational, scientific, sports, etc. are blatantly discriminatory in that no Jewish American citizen, who lives in the area supervised by the Consulate, can benefit from or take part in. They are intended for Arabs solely.
Jews resident in the area of Judea and Samaria face a policy of exclusion and that, we maintain, would seem to be unconstitutional and illegal. In the same geographical area under the jurisdiction of the Consulate there exist two separate and not equal populations: Jewish and Arab, whether Muslim or Christian.
Is what they are doing legal by American law? Is it in the spirit of the democratic foundations of American democracy? Can the Consulate adopt exclusionist policies that separate between peoples based on race in the same geographic area? Can it create the "state of the West Bank"?
There are almost 350,000 Jewish residents in the communities located in the territory for which the C-G is responsible (the almost 300,000 Jews in the newer Jerusalem neighborhoods and within the Old City is another matter). Almost 15,000 are American citizens. They do not benefit from any of these cultural, social or funding outreach activities and other programs and monies. Jews don't count, other than deserving consular needs like birth registration, visas, etc.
I think it would be a helpful for the House Foreign Relations Committee to hold hearings on the manner in which the US Consulate in Jerusalem is run. Jewish US citizen residents of Jerusalem, Judea and Samaria should be brought in to give testimony.
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You should ask the State Department whether the USA has a capital city. And if so, which state is it located in?
I found State Department Spokeswoman Victoria Nuland's performance theatrical. She was playing a role, delivering the message of her agency.
AS usual, and excellent and perceptive article. I am proud of my country but embarrased to no end for our administration...
Thanks for this excellent report from Israel on the conduct of the United States towards Israel. We need to be hearing about things like this and as a voting US citizen, I will be keeping an eye on the presidential candidates regarding this issue.
Not even Ronald Reagan moved the embassy to Jerusalem. It's not going to happen under Romney or any President.
It was my understanding years ago that the US Consulate in Jerusalem also only hires civilian Palestinians to work in the building. They will not hire Israeli Jews.
I had originally seen Matt Lee's interview with Victoria Nuland on IBA News. While I was thoroughly sickened I was not at all surprised. this is fully in keeping with the present administration in the White House. Hopefully the support of John Bolton will lead to change, but that is only if Mitt Romney accepts the gift he is being given and has the common sense to use it to the fullest advantage of both Israel and the US.
The US State Department has never liked Israel, no matter who the American president has been. Fact is, I don't think the US State Department has ever liked Jews in general. It was the State Department that actively lobbied Roosevelt to get involved in any rescues of Jews during the Holocaust. The State Department blaimed the intelligent breaches caused by the treasons of Walker and Hansen (before they were uncovered) on Israel. The State Department recommended to Truman that he not recognize Israel. The list goes on...
Frankly, the whole US State Department is a mess and needs to be completely rebuilt.
Frankly I can not express how angry I feel about this constant snub by our state department. Of course it has only gotten worse with Obama, but it's not been good thanks to the entrenched liberal, Arabist bureaucrats that have infected it for decades. It was almost worth backing Newt Gingrich to think he really would fire the lot of them. My cousin works there (logistics to the embassy in Afghanistan) and supports that "almost" feeling. He says the worst is the revolving door for the Saudi's.
So many of us are with you Caroline, and love and support Israel. We will never give up!
"or if the Bush administration thought it was building a consulate that the Obama administration completed. " - Just like the British Foreign Office, the US State Department has always been openly hostile to Israel, if not traditionally anti-Semitic. A very few presidents and prime ministers - like Truman or Thatcher - were strong and principled enough to over-rule, on occasion, their foreign relations nabobs. The perhaps well-meaning Bush was on the whole too weak for that.
Shabbat Shalom,Pesach Sameach Herb Glatter
Caroline,
You know the worst thing in all of this is the spineless,weak and effeminate non-leadership in Israel who go along with this and do not have the gonads to fight back or make ANY unwavering demands.
The US government bullies love their wimpy, servile secular,faith challenged Israeli lackeys who never stand up for anything because they have accepted the status of slaves of the empire.
It is disgusting to see people like Netanyahu too fearful to stand firm on anything or make unwavering 'creative' demands such as ;
Release Pollard or else your U.S. Military attache will be arrested for spying,incitement,etc.
There will be no consulate in Jerusalem ,you are evicted unless or until you acknowledge Jerusalem as Israel's undivided Capitol.
How naive of you to not see that Mitten's Romney is another Bush flavored con man who serves the Globalist agenda and will follow the evil agenda.
The game of a worthless,corrupt Congress saying one thing to tickle the ears of gullible suckers in Israel and letting the anti Israel agenda move forward still has many fooled.
Maybe (?) he will lie and tell you what you want to hear on moving the US Embassy to Jerusalem but will keep the Globalist Clinton,Bush,Obama agenda moving fast forward.
In 2010 the birth certificate searching kenian in the White House instructed John Brennan to call Jerusalem Al Qud.
Before I compared mormon Romney's lack of social communication with that of Howard Hughes ... because the same phenomena was why the kenian was manipulated into the White House in the first place and is underlying his day to day presidential decisions leading his anti-Semite hatred and his Critical Racist Theory mentality, his Cloward Piven Strategy etc. etc.
If Romney were to be elected President .. circles within the CIA, the mafia, the arms and military complex will have an easy and willing pre-conditioned long time cultivated puppet. (this big oil US cars complex contradicts an islam-oil independency policy !)
Romney's docility is built-in his mindset. Its what utilitarian philosophy has made of liberals like him. Romney is spoiled like Donald Trump who betrayed a congresswoman when fighting for a free America.
So it is not smart to focus on Romney but instead we should focus on the geo-political battle zones as they develop and focus om the circles and lobbies around Romney or who ever becomes President.
2nd. Specialists say there will be a 2nd Arab Uprise in the Gulf and there will be a clash against Iran's nuclear facilities.
Whether these happen or not ...
3rd the fundamentalist power seizure will proceed and gradually revolve into an Iron Curtain.
4th. Most likely the US as well as Europe will resort to inflationary Keynesian monetary policies leading to a Weimar stadium. Romney is aware but if he is capable to turn what already had been set in motion ...
Why in the world is The Israeli Gov't not up in arms about this? They ought to be FURIOUS. I am. It is the same mind set that is typical of the Israel LastER federal trolls WHICH WANT US TO FEEL GUILTY for choosing to live. This is why they want Pollard to die in prison. Israel needs to wean itself from it's fair weather friends. However it is understandable why one may pause to upset the apple cart.
In the mean time EXPOSE those in the media who are continuing to brainwash us that Obama has Israel's back.
78%, I still can not believe we are SOOOO stupid, or at least the vast majority of us. Not again , please not again, you morons.
"Almost 15,000 are American citizens. They do not benefit from any of these cultural, social or funding outreach activities and other programs and monies. Jews don't count, other than deserving consular needs like birth registration, visas, etc."
What are these programs exactly? Sounds like Arabs are the recipients of lots of love,fun, games and money flying around. I don't quarrel with the fact that the State Dep't. has an incoherent policy on Jerusalem. However, I've never been to an Embassy or Consulate for anything other than consular needs. Does't sound like Jews are missing out on much other than the standard hand holding a homesick ex-patriot gets around the world.
The squeaky wheel gets the grease.
While waiting in a long line to inter the US Consulate in Jerusalem which was supervised by Arab workers, they always allowed late coming Arabs the next spot in line ahead of everyone else. When they required to make an appointment via e-mail, I noticed that their web site had all the Arab holidays and Arab events but not one Jewish one. This was a couple of years ago; so, I don’t what it is like today. One thing still remains, all of the workers are Arab and one is Jewish so as to not to be discriminatory.:-)
My sincere apologies for my govt's treatment of Israel. I'm ashamed of them.
Mr. Medad asks: Can the Consulate adopt exclusionist policies that separate between peoples based on race in the same geographic area?
Yes, Mr. Medad, they can. Those in power also do it in America, where they blatantly have preferred races, and make no apologies about it.
Until the Left is purged from all positions of leadership, the world will continue to be upside-down where good is bad and bad is good.
There are a great many Americans who believe that Obama is not only anti-Israel but anti-American. There is going to be a great confrontation, a reckoning, this year or next and Obama should take heed of the message...Loyalty in this order Obama: God, then the USA, then Israel. If Obama and his lumpen proletariat turn their backs on Israel it will not be America that transgresses against God. The loyalty will change to God, then Israel, then a fight to regain our constitutional republic.
"If I am not mistaken, the US Consulate General in Jerusalem is the only US consulate in the world that is not subordinate to the embassy in the country where it is located."
Hong Kong and/or Hamilton (Bermuda) may also share this distinction, albeit for different historical or political reasons.
I know this is off-topic but I find Iran,and we could have war soon between Iran and Israel, to be the best country in the Middle East because of its people,but it has a sad history,here are some details in the article in antisharia:
"Details about Iran not in the Documentary
1.Every year 150,000 Iranians leave Iran to live in other countries.
2.About 4 million Iranians live abroad.
3.Iran has the highest number of nose jobs for women in the world,30,000/year.For example,the UK has a few million less people and nose jobs there are only 6,000/year.
4.About 1 million Iranian woman practice muta or temporary marriage,in order to have money to live,that is 1 out of every 32 women.In muta a man pays a woman money,which is considered a dowry,and depending on the amount,the marriage lasts 1 day,1 week,1 month,6 months,1 year.Muta is allowed in Shia Islam and was allowed by Muhammad and,according to the Shias,never annulled by him.
5.Iran has probably the largest number of drug addicts in the world,about 4 million,though others say it is Pakistan.
6.Iran has probably the highest suicide rate in the world.,etc,etc,etc"
Guys,check this out:
"Watch this Fascinating Documentary by Rick Steves on Iran,Beautifully Made even if Not Critical"
http://www.antisharia.com/2012/04/04/watch-this-fascinating-documentary-by-rick-steves-on-iranbeautifully-made-even-if-not-critical/
AND ALSO
"What was the Lebanon Hostage Crisis of 1982-1992 and why Hezbullah,the Guilty one,Won"
http://www.antisharia.com/2011/07/14/what-was-the-lebanon-hostage-crisis-of-1982-1992-and-why-hezbullahthe-guilty-onewon/