15 Dec 2021; MEMO: Several Israeli officials have claimed that the Biden administration in Washington is "obsessed" about illegal Jewish settlements in the occupied West Bank on a par with Iran's nuclear programme, the Jerusalem Post reported on Tuesday. "The Americans bring up 'settler violence' all the time, obsessively," said one diplomat.
The newspaper cited the persistence of US Secretary of State Antony Blinken in devoting equal time to discussing Israel's settlements and the Iranian nuclear issue with Defence Minister Benny Gantz during the latter's visit to Washington last week. According to the daily, Blinken told Gantz that the Israeli government's settlement activity is "destroying the chance of a two-state solution."
Talk about the US "obsession" came after Israeli Public Security Minister Omer Bar-Lev was criticised by Prime Minister Naftali Bennett and other senior officials for discussing settler violence with government officials in Washington.
Lahav Harkov, an Israeli journalist who writes for the Jerusalem Post, said that Israel views specific settler violence as a "law enforcement problem" whereas a "nuclear Iran is an existential threat" to the occupation state.
While the US has opted to negotiate with Iran in order to limit its nuclear programme, Israel continues to threaten the Islamic Republic with a military offensive in order to put an end to its nuclear ambitions.
