The Obama White House and the media need to spread this false narrative in order to sustain their momentum against the Jewish State. It’s a form of fake news that’s been given the veneer of respectability.
If Israel Has Not Been Building Settlements, Why Are the White House and Media Claiming It Is?
“[T]housands of new settlements are being constructed…you saw tens of thousands of settlements being constructed“
Ben Rhodes, deputy national security adviser, December 23, 2016
On December 23rd, United Nations Security Council Resolution 2344 was passed 14-0 with one abstension — the United States. One of the key points of that resolution was the clear declaration that Israeli settlements are illegal. Not “illegitimate”, as per US policy in the past, but “illegal”. The settlements were described as an impediment to peace that must be removed.
Are There Tens of Thousands of Israeli Settlements… Or 228?
That same day, Ben Rhodes, the White House deputy security advisor, gave an interview to Judy Woodruff.Recall that Rhodes is noted for having bragged about his manipulation of the media in creating the narrative that made the Iran deal possible, despite both popular and congressional opposition. He boasted at the time about the media’s lack of knowledge of world events:
Most of the outlets are reporting on world events from Washington. The average reporter we talk to is 27 years old, and their only reporting experience consists of being around political campaigns. That’s a sea change. They literally know nothing…We created an echo chamber…They [the seemingly independent experts] were saying things that validated what we had given them to say.
Now, in his interview to Judy Woodruff on the PBS Newshour, quoted above, Rhodes claimed that Israel had built literally thousands of settlements — and then he doubled down on that claim and asserted that actually tens of thousands of settlements had been built.
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Again, all we have to do is just take a look at the Peace Now website.
In April 2012, they posted an article with the headline: For the First Time Since 1990 – the Government is to Approve the Establishment of New Settlements:
According to reports, Prime Minister Netanyahu stated this week that the Government will approve the establishment of three settlements (Bruchin, Sansana and Rechalim), in the upcoming cabinet meeting on Sunday, April 22.
That’s it. Three settlements.
In 2012.
And no new settlements built since.
