Sound The Trumpet : Deputy FM Ayalon: British Interference in Jerusalem will Stop

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“Deputy FM Ayalon: British Interference in Jerusalem will Stop”
by Arutz Sheva - Gil Ronen and Nissan Ratzlav-Katz
August 10th, 2009

'British Interference will Stop'
Israel is awaiting clarifications from Britain regarding a British diplomat’s remarks that his country was funding Arab neighborhoods in eastern Jerusalem to “halt Israeli expansion,” Deputy Foreign Minister Danny Ayalon said Friday.

Speaking in an interview for Regional Radio, Ayalon said that the Foreign Ministry still does not know how accurate the British diplomat’s statement was, and that “the British Ambassador to Israel was summoned to the Foreign Ministry for clarifications on the matter, including sending messages to London, that we will not accept these things, of course – not the funding of various organizations or things that have to do with internal politics and Israel’s internal affairs.”

Meddling in Israel’s internal matters is unacceptable, Ayalon said. “I am sure the British would not want us to interfere in their [internal affair,” he added. “Israel sees this with great gravity and I assume that it will cease soon.”

Funding for 'halting settlement activities'

The inflammatory statements were made on July 22 by the diplomat Martin Day, who is based in Abu Dhabi, to Al-Arabiya television. According to a transcript of the interview, Day told the station, in Arabic, that the British government was "taking practical steps towards freezing settlement activities."

"For instance," Day said, "we finance projects aimed at halting settlement activities. One of these projects seeks to build new Palestinian neighborhoods in east Jerusalem and save Palestinian houses from demolition." In addition, Day said, "we also finance organizations that monitor settlement activities."

He added that "products from the settlements do not enjoy preferential custom duties that we offer to products coming from Israel. In light of this, we can say that we are taking effective and practical steps against settlement activities."

The 'height of chutzpah'

The Jerusalem Post reported July 30 that the Foreign Ministry's senior deputy director general, Rafi Barak, spoke with British Ambassador Tom Phillips twice to discuss the matter and voice Israel's displeasure. Phillips, according to Barak, told him he was looking into the matter.

Karen Kaufman, the British Embassy's spokesman in Tel Aviv, told the Post that the British government was "not involved in the actual construction of new Palestinian neighborhoods in East Jerusalem."

Jewish construction at Maaleh Zeitim in Jerusalem / Israel news photo: Flash90

"The UK is spending £450,000 over 4 years to support projects in east Jerusalem and the West Bank that help Palestinians better understand and effectively use the Israeli planning laws to gain permission both retrospectively for existing homes, and prospectively for new homes on their side of the Green Line," she said.

Foreign Ministry spokesmen called Day's comments "[t height of chutzpah," and said, "We can't recall any other case of a democratic country funding political activities inside another democratic country."

Looking for His glorious appearing! Titus 2:13