give a lot of details in World Orders and elsew here). W hat’s now
called Jerusalem is an area much bigger than anything that has ever
been called Jerusalem in the past; in fact, it’s a substantial part of
the w hole W est Bank.
World opinion has repeatedly condemned this annexation as
illegal. T he U S publicly agreed w ith this position, but meanw hile
gave Israel authorization to do w hat it liked.
Much of the land annexation and Israeli settlements in Arab East
Jerusalem is funded by money from the U S.
Some of it’s from American citizens, w ho probably are doing it
tax-free (at least in part), w hich means that the rest of us are paying
for it. Part of it comes from the U S government, w hich again means
that U S taxpayers are financing it.
T heoretically, the U S reduces its loan guarantees so as to
exclude any funds spent for settling the West Bank, but the amount
that’s restricted is w ay below w hat’s actually spent. Israelis know
this is a joke—it’s all over the Israeli press.
Furthermore, funds from the Jew ish National Fund and several
other so-called charitable organizations in the U S also support
settlements in various w ays (in part indirectly, by funding
development programs in Israel for Jew ish citizens only, so that
government funds can be transferred to subsidize settlers and
infrastructure). T hat’s again at taxpayer expense (since
contributions to these charities are tax-deductible). All together, it
amounts to quite a lot of money.
Many of the most militant settlers in the West Bank and Gaza are
from the U S. Does the American Jew ish community foster this kind
of militancy?
T he American Jew ish community is split, but a large number of
the right-w ing Jew ish terrorists and extremists in Israel come from
America. T he Israelis don’t like it—they don’t w ant terrorists in
their ow n society.
It’s gotten to the point w here there w ere even proposals—not
entirely in jest—to control immigration from the U S. Even very
mainstream Israelis w ere saying, Look, they’re just sending us the