Bennett: One Cannot 'Occupy' His Own Homeland; Economy Minister responds to CNN's Christiane Amanpour who asked about Israeli construction in the "occupied West Bank."

Economy Minister Naftali Bennett (Jewish Home/Bayit Yehudi) on Monday pointed out in an interview on CNN that there is no such thing as “Israeli occupation” in Judea, Samaria and eastern Jerusalem.

Bennett was asked by Christiane Amanpour to comment on HousingMinister Uri Ariel’s decision last week to issue tenders for 20,000 new homes in Judea and Samaria.

When Amanpour, however, used the term “occupied West Bank” in her question, Bennett held up a coin which, he pointed out, was “used by Jews 2,000 years ago in the state of Israel.”

Amanpour tried to interrupt Bennett by saying that “occupied West Bank” was “an international term” but Bennett continued, “I don’t accept it. This coin, which says in Hebrew ‘freedom of Zion’ was used by Jews 2,000 years ago in the state of Israel, in what you call ‘occupied’”.

“One cannot occupy his own home,” stressed Bennett.

He also reiterated once again that he opposes the so-called “two-state solution”.

“I think trying to enforce [an] artificial state in the heart of Israel, in Jerusalem, is a grave mistake,” Bennett declared.

“If the Palestinians want peace they have to do one simple thing: Recognize Israel as the Jewish homeland. That’s all. But if they don’t do that, if they don’t recognize Israel as the Jewish homeland, they can’t expect peace,” he told Amanpour.

In the same interview, Bennett warned that a bad nuclear deal between Iran and world powers “will lead to war.”

“There’s no one who wants a war less than us,” he emphasized. “However, it’s one of those cases where a bad deal will lead to a war, and a gooddeal with actually prevent war.”

A good deal, Bennett said, would be one that “dismantles the nuclear weapon production machine.”

Barkat on BBC: From Whom, Exactly, Did We Conquer Jerusalem?

Jerusalem mayor Nir Barkat spoke out forcefully during an interview with the BBC on Friday, saying that splitting the capital as part of a future peace agreement with the Palestinian Authority would simply not work.

Speaking on the program “Hardtalk with Tim Franks,” Barkat said that he is committed to improving the situation for all residents of Jerusalem – Jews, Christians and Arabs alike.

Barkat called UN Secretary General Ban Ki-Moon’s criticism of Israel for its plans to build in Jerusalem’s Jewish Gilo neighborhood a “double standard,” adding: “Anywhere in the world, would you dare to say that Jews or non-Jews or blacks or people of a certain faith are not allowed to build somewhere? The reality is that in the last week we’ve discussed and will be approving 1,400 units for Arab residents, but they don’t report that. The media only report Jewish building. Even international law cannot discriminate between Jews and non-Jews.”

He sharply contradicted  the host’s assertion that Jerusalem is “occupied territory” by saying, “This is not occupied territory. From whom? From the Jordanians? From the British? From the Turks? Anywhere you put a shovel in the ground you find Jewish roots in Jerusalem.

“The vast majority of Arabs in east Jerusalem prefer a united city,” he continued. “Poll the public. They will tell you. The Arabs – the Muslims and the Christians – prefer a united city than, G-d forbid, a split city that will never work. There’s no working model in the world of a split city that ever worked. They all fail. They’re dysfunctional. Why go there when you know that it will never work and it’s not good for the future? It focuses on the divide rather than the common denominator.”

Barkat said that the world does not understand the Middle East and that the true challenge is to get the world to understand what is happening on the ground. “When you learn and understand the city, you understand that it can never be divided, not practically and not ideologically,” he said.

“The truth is that there are gaps in standards between various parts of the city, but if you look at the west side of the city in Jewish neighborhoods there are things that are missing compared to other places,” said Barkat. “The challenge is to admit them and to fix them. I’m committed [to doing so] and so is the Israeli government. We’ve demonstrated in the last two-and-a-half years a significant growth. I am a big believer in a united city, and therefore I’m totally committed to all residents of Jerusalem – Muslim, Christians, and Jews.”

Responding to the host’s question about 75 percent of the Arab population in Jerusalem being below the poverty line, Barkat noted that 50 percent of the Jewish population is also below the poverty line, and that the way to fix it is by strengthening the economy.

“Our economy will grow, and is growing, through culture and tourism and through health and life sciences,” he said. “These are areas that we’ve been working on in order to improve our economy. The challenge is to get more jobs into Jerusalem. When it rains, it rains on everybody. Tourism last year alone picked up 24 percent in hotel occupancy, and culture and tourism employ more Arabs than Jews.”

Regarding building plans, Barkat said the city’s master plan calls for “the expansion of Arab neighborhoods and Jewish neighborhoods. We cannot allow people to build by race or religion. We anticipate that Arabs will live in Arab neighborhoods and Jews will live Jewish neighborhoods. The master plan talks about an honest and fair expansion of the current neighborhoods, because if we don’t plan expansion in a smart way then Arabs will build illegally and Jews will not build and leave the city.”

He said he believes the ratio of Jews to Arabs in the city will stay at 65 percent for Jews and 35 percent for Arabs, noting, “The number of Arab residents in Jerusalem is rising because the quality of life in Jerusalem for them is better.”

Franks noted that the city’s new master plan calls for a 60 percent Jewish population and 40 percent Arab population and asked Barkat if he believes this target is reasonable.

“It’s a theoretical discussion,” said Barkat. “The reality is that I, as mayor of all of the people of Jerusalem, have to allow apartments for Christians, Muslims and Jews.”

Barkat admitted, however, that he prefers to maintain the current ratio, yet noted, “There’s room for everybody in Jerusalem -   Arabs, hareidi, national religious and secular people. I would like to serve them all. I’m not arguing who should be on top or should be on the bottom. I’m arguing that right now, they way I view the city, I have to provide solutions to all sectors, and if the proportions right now are X, we might as well leave them as X. That’s what I’m saying. It’s not against anybody; it’s for the benefit of all citizens of Jerusalem.”

Regarding the idea of a two-state solution, the mayor said that “It depends. I hear what Hamas teaches in schools. I hear what the Palestinian Authority teaches in schools. They’re not teaching for love. They’re not claiming that they want co-existence. Hamas is not saying that. Hamas has a very clear charter: they want to get rid of us. Would you make a deal with someone who wants to get rid of you?”

He noted that in the long-term, should there be a party on the other side with whom Israel could negotiate, a two-state solution could work “with certain limitations,” but that in any case Jerusalem must remain the capital of the Jewish state.

The truth about Israel beyond the failed bus ads A failed effort to place ads on Metro Transit buses that accuse Israel of war crimes is part of an effort to delegitimize the state of Israel. Guest columnist Jonathan L. Singer disputes the war-crimes allegations.

THE Big Lie is alive and well in Seattle, and this fact is ironic for a city that prides itself on having a commitment to diversity, openness and intellectual engagement.

In the past, big lies were used by fascists and dictators as a means of delegitimizing certain groups or classes, seeking a scapegoat upon whom to blame general societal disappointments. Experts at utilizing this tool understand you cannot start with an outlandish statement but must state many small lies at first. In an age of Twitter and instant messaging, our culture is ripe for domination by this political approach.

We recently saw this approach at work in the failed attempt to place billboard ads on city buses in Seattle claiming that Israel is a state actively engaging in war crimes with the support of American dollars. [" 'Israel right or wrong' crowd advocates censorship in Seattle," Opinion, Jan. 1]

It is a beautiful example of the Big Lie at work — on buses that normally have photos of theater performers, or insurance agents, the proposed ad would have given us a stark and chilling vision of a brutish monster oppressing a helpless victim. Had the bus ads been allowed, the only context of the message would have been a government-owned bus adding legitimacy to a claim that is anything but true.

Seattle is ripe for this kind of hate speech because in schools, houses of worship and political gatherings, our community leadership has not challenged the little lies that delegitimize the state of Israel. It has become commonplace to portray Israel as an oppressor and an occupier without respecting Israel's legitimate rights and fears in a region where her neighbors actively call for her destruction.

No condemnation is made with similar vehemence or focus of other nations that clearly violate human rights and receive millions from the U.S. government. Only Israel, the democratic state — that supports women's rights, to which Sudanese refugees flee oppression in their land, where none are at risk of genocide — is the focus of their ire.

If you go to the website of the group sponsoring the ads, they make it clear that no matter what Israel does, she should not exist. They claim that in 1948 she displaced the Palestinians, though they pose the argument as if the concern is only the land captured by Israel in 1967.

This ignores the fact that Jews have had a continuous presence in the land of Israel since Biblical times and that the Palestinians declared war on the nascent Jewish state.

They do not want you to know that throughout history there has never been another state on that land, that the land was purchased, and the Jewish state was and is recognized by the United Nations.

They fail to mention the call by Hamas, which rules Gaza, to destroy Israel, and the rockets still being fired at Israeli civilian population centers.

And then they conclude that their position is not anti-Jewish but only a protest against the misbehavior of a state, but we know that it really is a new form of the old anti-Semitism, wrapped in the Big Lie insinuating that Jews are guilty of defending themselves, and therefore must be punished by being ostracized by the world and made stateless yet again.

Israel, like all countries, makes mistakes. Criticism in the context of support for Israel's legitimate rights is not hate speech. We hope that Seattleites concerned with fairness who want to create space for real dialogue about difficult issues will speak out against all hate speech. That outcry should not just be against the big lies but should focus as well on the smaller lies about Israel and the Middle East that if unchallenged create an environment in which the Big Lie thrives.

Israel wants peace with her neighbors, she has accepted the idea of two states, one Jewish, one Palestinian existing as neighbors in peace. In spite of all efforts at obfuscation, that is the Big Truth.

Jonathan L. Singer is a senior rabbi at Temple Beth Am, Seattle. Another 24 rabbis in the Seattle and Tacoma area support this statement.