OUTRAGE IN ISRAEL AFTER US CONSULATE ARMED CONVOY WITH ARABS VIOLATES SEVERAL LAWS, trespasses on a farm, and uses guns to threaten Israeli farmers - US Consular staff said they were on an "inspecting" mission following Arab complaints about trees.

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 What is known up to this point:

• Arabs engaged in dispute with Israelis over olive trees called the US Consulate in Jerusalem.
• The US Consulate, disrespecting and violating several diplomatic and Israeli laws - and without government permission - organized an ARMED convoy of vehicles with several Arabs tagging along, and taking off for the Israeli farm community of Adei Ad, allegedly TO INSPECT the situation.
• Israelis living in Judea and Samaria (West Bank) towns get very alarmed by the presence of Arabs approaching their communities, as there have been numerous terror attacks and constant threats to the lives of residents.  
• Within Judea and Samaria there are laws not allowing Palestinians or Israelis to enter each other's towns without proper government authorization.  This does not apply to the rest of Israel, where Arabs are free to move around as they please.
• So these Israeli farmers saw a convoy full of Arabs trespassing Adei Ad land.  The reaction was alarm and then outrage, when they saw that it was US Consulate staff on a mission to agitate for the Arabs.
• Israelis made it clear to the trespassers that they were not welcome unless they had proper authorization from the Israeli government.
• US Consulate staff apparently do not feel they owe Israelis or their government any respect or recognition in the area, so the argument got more heated.
• It is said - although there is no evidence - that some (not clear how many) Israelis threw stones at the vehicles. 
• American consular staff say they have a film record of the incident, but it has not yet been made available to the media.
• The Americans - whose State Department says that Arabs throwing firebombs at Israelis is NOT terror - felt that these Israelis did not have the right to defend their homes and got out of the vehicles and pointed M16 and other guns at the Israelis.
• The White House does not recognize Jerusalem as Israel's capital.  The consulate's existence in Jerusalem is informally regarded as a diplomatic representation to the envisioned Islamic State of Palestine.
• The White House regards Palestinians as a minority, distorting the historical fact that Israel is a country with only 6 million Jews surrounded by hundreds of millions of hostile and belligerent Arabs.  The Arabs are NOT a minority in this conflict.

Imagine what would the reaction be in the US be if Israeli consulate staff were to ride a convoy armed with guns into an American farm, accompanied by several threatening-looking locals known to have committed crimes in the past, and acting as if entitled to inspect and police the area.  Imagine what would be the reaction if in the middle of an argument they pointed their guns at American farmers protesting the trespassing of their property.

 

 

 

Adei Ad farming community north of Jerusalem, with about 25 families.

 

UPDATE  - January 4, 2015

 

What were armed US consular staff doing at Adei Ad? 

Blunder or deliberate confrontation?

 

Despite US denials, Israeli security source says there is 'no question' US Consulate staff pointed their weapons during Friday confrontation.  

 

Americans video recorded the incident and apparently made the video or parts of it available to Israeli security officials.
 

Neither the IDF nor local residents were informed of the visit beforehand.

 

Planned provocation or blunder?  The incident which very nearly escalated into a fully-fledged shootout between the sides - are still emerging.

 

Details which have emerged so far paint a worrying picture regarding the conduct of Consulate staff - who either willingly took part in a planned provocation, or else, in a staggering show of irresponsibility and unprofessionalism, recklessly blundered into a volatile and potentially deadly situation without the slightest idea of what they were doing.

 

Armed consular staff and Arabs challenge Israeli citizens in their own farm.

 

Roughly two hours before the start of Shabbat, a group from the Consulate, escorted by armed (apparently American) guards and several residents of the Arab village of Turmus Ayya, descended en-masse and unannounced on an area within 50 meters of Adei Ad's southwestern edge.

 

(Due to relentless Arab terror attempts, Israeli law established a protective edge of 50 meters around Jewish communities in Judea and Samaria  - West Bank)

 

Arabs accusing Jews of attacking trees brings out a convoy of armed US consular staff.

 

The Consulate delegation had apparently been "invited" by Palestinian Arabs from Turmus Ayya, many of whom hold US citizenship, ostensibly to see the site of what Arabs claim was an "attack" by Adei Ad residents on an olive orchard. 

 

That incident was originally reported Thursday night by the PA's Bethlehem-based Maan News, which claimed that Jewish "settlers" had uprooted 5,000 olive trees - a rather incredible number to those familiar with quite what such a mammoth task would entail.

 

Subsequent reports later revised the number down to 500, although no independent verification or evidence of the alleged damage has surfaced as yet.

 

The confrontation

 

Adei Ad residents, alarmed at the unannounced arrival of a large group from a Palestinian village within meters of their community, rushed out to confront them. A brief verbal altercation ensued which quickly escalated, with youths from Adei Ad hurling stones at the delegation, causing some damage to a Consulate vehicle. 

 

At this point the accounts vary; witnesses from Adei Ad say Consulate staff drew their weapons - an M-16 and a handgun - following which residents called for backup from Adei Ad's own security team. The Consulate, for its part, has denied any weapons were drawn at all. Either way, the American delegation beat a hasty retreat. 

 

Notably, at no point during the confrontation was the IDF alerted by the Consulate team; only after leaving the scene did the Americans call the army, who quickly responded and launched an investigation, which is still ongoing.

 

Due to the tense relations between Jews and Arabs in the area, Arab farmers must contact the IDF before working land that abuts Adei Ad in order to avoid any confrontations.

 

For their part, Adei Ad residents have long complained that they have been regularly targeted by Arab thieves and vandals.

 

"About two years ago a group of Arabs actually came right up to my house, right into the enter of Adei Ad, and stole a whole herd of sheep. In the past they've stolen horses, they stole a tractor, building equipment," the resident recounted.

 

He said locals had long given up on the prospect of receiving help from police, who he accused of totally avoiding their responsibilities and only agreeing to investigate Palestinian accusations against them.

 

"We receive no backing from the police," he lamented. "Every time there is an incident of robbery by the Arabs the military refuses to deal with it because they don't look at it as life-threatening; and the police... they tell us that it's out of their jurisdiction. 

 

"On the other hand, every time the Arabs steal something or cause trouble they then go and report us to the police - that's how they work - so it's always a one-sided investigation, because the police claim they have no jurisdiction over the Arab villages, only over us! No one has ever been charged, no property has ever been returned."

 

He emphasized that despite the negative characterization of Adei Ad and surrounding Jewish communities in the area by some media outlets, residents are not interested in trouble and just want to get on with their daily lives in peace.

 

Source:  http://www.israelnationalnews.com/News/News.aspx/189500#.VKl0lpstCM8

 

 

OUTRAGE

 

Israeli Batya Medad writes on her blog: 

The State of Israel is an independent country.

It has a police and an army, the IDF.

It has courts and a government.

No Israeli Government official gave the United States permission to "inspect" Adei Ad, the Jewish farming community to the east of Shiloh.
 

 

Then Batya quotes from a Reuters news report:

 

"...U.S. diplomatic delegation which came to inspect..."(Reuters) - Jewish settlers threw stones at the cars of a U.S. diplomatic delegation which came to inspect vandalism to nearby Palestinian-owned trees in the occupied West Bank on Friday, Israeli police said.... the delegation arrived at Adei Ad in U.S. diplomatic cars without first having coordinated the visit with Israeli authorities.  

 

Batya Medad continues:

 

Not only did the Americans have the nerve to "inspect" what is going on here, disregarding our government, but they came with armed guards who brandished their weapons at the worried Adei Ad residents.

 

They are lucky they weren't shot!  
Arabs and international anti-Israel anarchists have attacked Adei Ad in the past.

 

I have no doubt that if an Israeli consular delegation went armed, like the Americans, on an inspection tour in the Untied States the Israeli Ambassador would be sent home packing, and the American one would leave Israel and there would be so many complaints about Israeli "chutzpah."
(Read more about the US Consulate activism on behalf of Muslims and more)

 

I hope that instead of our usual wimpy apologies this time our Israeli Government demands that the Americans apologize to us!! Send the American officials home!!!

 

Batya's blog Shiloh Musings

http://shilohmusings.blogspot.co.il/2015/01/american-chutzpah.html

 

Batya also blogs for Israel National News

http://www.israelnationalnews.com/Blogs/Blog.aspx/6

Local authority demands expulsion of US Consular staff who threatened Israelis with guns

Acting Head of the Samaria Regional Council, Yossi Dagan, has filed a request to the Minister of the Interior Gilad Erdan demanding he immediately expel the American Consulate staff members who entered the Samaria village of Adei Ad Friday and threatened Israeli Jews with an M-16. 

http://www.israelnationalnews.com/News/News.aspx/189456#.VKhKJZstCM8

January 4, 2015 update
http://www.israelnationalnews.com/News/News.aspx/189500#.VKl0lpstCM8

Today's news in Jerusalem, Israel's capital, 

 according to the US Consulate 

I have included here a cut-and-paste copy of ALL the US Consulate in Jerusalem General News on January 3, 2015.

 

As usual the items are exclusively about the US-Palestinian relationship and the US effort to empower the Arabs, while completely ignoring and bypassing the State of Israel. 

 

The White House does NOT recognize Jerusalem as Israel's capital.  It does not even recognize this ancient Jewish city as being part of Israel.

 

The State Department has denied putting "Jerusalem, Israel" as the birthplace of an American child born in that city.  The case is now before the US Supreme Court where White House lawyers argued emphatically against the fact that Jerusalem belongs to the state of Israel.

There have been complaints that this US consulate in Jerusalem has been on occasion unhelpful to Israeli Jews with American nationality. 

The US consulate in Jerusalem's top mission appears to be to engage in intense activism for the Arab takeover of Jewish land within the State of Israel.  But it may have now gone beyond that, to that of actual police on behalf of the Arabs.

The White House regards Palestinians as a minority, distorting the historical fact that Israel is a country with only 6 million Jews surrounded by hundreds of millions of hostile and belligerent Arabs.  The Arabs are NOT a minority in this conflict.

When you read the following items from the consulate's website, keep in mind that this is what the US government presents to the visitor to their site. 

 

Behind the scenes there is what many Israelis regard as a shadow government, monitoring, strongly influencing, members of the Israeli government into following policies set up by the White House.  This is has been going on through several presidential administrations, and has intensified during the current one.

 

US Consulate in Jerusalem General News (January 3, 2015)

 

• Jason Furman, Chairman of the Council of Economic Advisers, Visits Jerusalem

  Chairman Jason Furman visited Jerusalem and the West Bank to discuss the U.S. and global economies after speaking at the 2014 Globes Business Conference in Tel Aviv over the weekend. 

• American Consul General Michael Ratney Launches Ramallah Start-Up Weekend

  Jerusalem - American Consul General Michael Ratney joined future Palestinian entrepreneurs in hailing the opening of Ramallah Startup Weekend. 

• American Consulate General in Jerusalem, in Cooperation with EducationUSA in Gaza and the West Bank, Hosts International Education Week 2014

  November 17-21, 2014 marks the 15th annual International Education Week (IEW), a joint initiative of the U.S. Department of Education and the U.S. Department of State that celebrates the importance and benefits of international education in the United States and around the world. Over 100 countries now celebrate this week. 

• American Consul General Michael Ratney Participates in Canaan Fair Trade Olive Harvest Festival in Jenin

  American Consul General Michael Ratney participated in the tenth annual olive harvest festival in Jenin today where he visited with local farmers and met Canaan Fair Trade Olive Harvest Festival Director Nasser Abufarha. 

US Consulate in Jerusalem

http://jerusalem.usconsulate.gov/

 

And check out their blog - almost all in Arabic, with a video celebrating the Prophet Muhammad's birthday:  Congratulations on the Occasion of Prophet Muhammad's Birthday 

 

( And I thought all along that it was Jesus' birthday.)

 

 

RELATED

 

Satire.  Now the US protecting trees instead of fighting terror

http://ottersandsciencenews.blogspot.ca/2015/01/satire-change-in-us-mideast-priorities.html

Myths and Facts -  Jews have the right to settle in Judea and Samaria
When Jews began resettling in parts of the West Bank and Gaza after the 1967 Six-Day War, they also reestablished their legal right to settle anywhere in western Palestine – an entitlement unaltered by international law since 1922, and a right that is valid and protected by Article 80 of the United Nations Charter.

Jewish settlements are not illegal as some claim – not from a moral or historical standpoint, nor from a legal one.
Read more
http://www.mythsandfacts.org/Conflict/2/territories2.htm

Jews returning to live in Biblical Jewish Israel - List and photos of communities
http://settlementsofisrael.netzah.org/

 

Arabs and their leftist friends caught on film framing Jews for the destruction of trees

http://www.israelnationalnews.com/News/News.aspx/186113#.VKcZZpstCM9

 

Blood libel in Israel

http://www.israelnationalnews.com/News/News.aspx/185865#.VKcY_pstCM9
 

CIA operatives in Israel
Leaked CIA manual telling operatives how to avoid scrutiny at Israeli airport
http://ottersandsciencenews.blogspot.ca/2014/12/cia-destabilizing-israeli-government.html
 

Jerusalem Post:  The American consulate seems to be exclusively aimed at benefiting Palestinians.

Discrimination and hostility inside the Consulate against the odd Jew who may work there - by Naomi Ragen.  http://www.jpost.com/Opinion/Columnists/An-American-in-Israel

Writer Naomi Ragen's own website

http://www.naomiragen.com/israel/an-american-in-israel/

Another account of the US Consulate in Jerusalem's hostility towards Jews and bias towards Arabs
http://israelmatzav.blogspot.co.il/2009/07/us-consulate-in-jerusalem-all.html

The US Consulate in a gesture intended to show their contempt towards Israeli sovereignty.
A consulate convoy refused to show their IDs at a security checkpoint.  A gesture to demonstrate their disdain for the Jews and the arrogance of a superpower dictating Israelis how to run their country.
http://israelmatzav.blogspot.ca/2008/01/idf-east-jerusalem-consulate-in.html

State Department says Palestinians throwing firebombs at Israelis is not terrorism.
Eleven year old child with third degree burns due to Palestinian firebomb.
http://ottersandsciencenews.blogspot.ca/2014/12/israeli-father-and-11-year-old-daughter.html 

White House lawyer arguing at the US Supreme Court says Jerusalem does not belong to Israel.
The White House wants to give Jerusalem to Islam
The State Department refuses to register Jerusalem, Israel, as the birthplace of an American citizen.  The issue is now before the US Supreme Court.
http://freebeacon.com/national-security/solicitor-general-israel-has-no-claim-to-jerusalem-just-as-russia-has-no-claim-to-crimea/
 

White House has set up a network of spies, monitoring Jews house-to-house

Years ago the Obama administration set up an apparatus to closely monitor Jewish construction in Jerusalem and the strategic West Bank to the point of watching Israeli moves house-to-house in certain key neighborhoods .

Jewish leaders in the West Bank said the consulate takes no pains to hide their activities.

“They come out. They tour our communities. They try to interact with our leadership,” David Ha’ivri, spokesmen for the Shomron Regional Council in the West Bank, told WND.

“They drive around the towns, check up on what’s going on. They try to mingle with us to get more information on what we’re up to and what we’re doing,” he said.  http://www.wnd.com/2009/08/106108/ 

 

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