Alistair Bunkall
@AliBunkallSKY · International correspondents — Israel & region
Alistair Bunkall is Sky News's Middle East correspondent.
If there was one story yesterday that is likely to affect the way Israelis vote in next month’s elections, it’s this one. Not the UK sanctions against settlements.
The US response (so far), has not been the strong rebuke that the Israelis were expecting, and hoping for:
Interesting analysis of Israel’s image problem:
Also: The Balfour Declaration was not a legally binding document rather a statement of support from the British government for a “national home for the Jewish people”. It didn’t define borders.
Sa’ar references The Balfour Declaration in this criticism of Ed Miliband. But Balfour stated “nothing shall be done which may prejudice the civil and religious rights of existing non-Jewish communities in Palestine” The E1 settlement would effectively divide the West Bank.
Also, who is in charge of the police: Itamar Ben Gvir.
This is v notable. Military control over occupied territory is governed by rules of armed conflict. Geneva convention etc. Send in a civilian police force and that operates under the domestic legal system of the country deploying it. In this case Israel.
“Reports”? The US Ambassador to Israel has described it as an “horrific act of terror”
“President Trump promised President Aoun that he would rein in the actions of Prime Minister Netanyahu and prevent him, to the greatest extent possible, from dragging the situation toward escalation in Lebanon”