Obama's policies slammed as 'racist'

Danny Danon

JERUSALEM – A member of Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu's ruling Likud party slammed as "racist" President Obama's policies against Jewish construction in the West Bank and eastern Jerusalem.

"I think it is racist," stated Likud Knesset Member Danny Danon. "Can you imagine someone in the U.S. saying Hispanics or blacks or Muslims cannot build in a certain city?"

"What we see now coming from the (Obama) administration – telling Jews to not build in major parts of Jerusalem – is unacceptable," said Danon.

The Israeli lawmaker was speaking in a radio interview with WND senior reporter Aaron Klein, who hosts an investigative program on New York's WABC 770 AM.

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Danon, the deputy speaker of Israel's parliament, said most Israelis see Obama as "biased toward the Palestinian side."

"The majority of Israelis don't see the U.S. administration that they can be a fair negotiator," he said. "They used to be biased toward Israel. But now it's clear that this administration is biased toward the Palestinian side."

Klein's interview with Knesset Member Danny Danon can be heard below:

Dannon was largely referring to a diplomatic row that ensued between the Israeli government and Washington over the announced construction of 1,600 new homes in Ramat Shlomo, an already existing Jewish community in eastern Jerusalem. That decision was made public during Vice President Joe Biden's visit to the region two weeks ago.

The Palestinians claim eastern Jerusalem as their future capital, while Netanyahu has made clear he does not intend to give up the Jewish sections of the city.

Netanyahu stated he had not been aware of the decision to build in Ramat Shlomo and that the announcement was not timed to coincide with Biden's visit.

Still, Obama's senior adviser, David Axelrod, called the Ramalah Shlomo announcement an "insult," with other administration officials are calling the Jewish neighborhood expansion an impediment to Israeli-Palestinian negotiations.

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Stated Danon: "We are talking about an Orthodox neighborhood in area vacant from Arabs. No government, not left-wing, not right-wing, not even the Palestinians themselves believe that in any agreement someone will give that land to someone else. It's part of the municipality of Jerusalem, and they are only extending the building there."

Yesterday, it was announced the Jerusalem municipality canceled a meeting scheduled for today regarding the expansion of Ramat Shlomo. The municipality would not explain why it had postponed the meeting, but members of the Jerusalem District Building and Planning Committee told Israel's Army Radio the decision was made to avoid tensions during Netanyahu's visit to Washington this week.

Netanyahu reportedly accepted an invitation extended by George Mitchell, the U.S. special envoy to the Middle East, to meet with Obama in Washington on Tuesday on the sidelines of a major pro-Israel conference.