The Defense Ministry is concerned that US President Barack Obama will cut military aid to Israel in an effort to pressure the new government to take action against illegal outposts and settlement construction, defense officials said.JPOST:
The officials spoke with The Jerusalem Post ahead of both a visit later this week by US Middle East envoy George Mitchell and the Obama administration's anticipated release of the fiscal 2010 budget, which includes funding for foreign aid.
"Mitchell is a known opponent of the outposts and the settlements," a senior defense official said. "The Americans may try to use the military aid as a way of pressuring the new government into dismantling outposts and freezing construction in settlements."
A US congressman plans to brief fellow members of Congress and the Obama administration about his recent trip to Gaza, saying the US should pressure Israel regarding border closures and reassess its military support for the Jewish state.
US Rep. Keith Ellison, D-Minn., left and US Rep. Brian Baird, D-Wash., right, take photos of the rubble of the American International school in Beit Lahiya in the northern Gaza Strip, Thursday.
Photo: APRep. Brian Baird, a Democrat from Washington state, visited Gaza last week with fellow Democratic Rep. Keith Ellison of Minnesota and was struck by "the level of destruction, the scope of it, specifically the civilian targets - schools, hospitals, industry."
Baird also said Israel had "apparently willfully destroyed any capacity of the Palestinians to rebuild their own infrastructure."
The trip to Gaza by Baird and Ellison coincided with a separate visit there by John Kerry, chairman of the Senate Foreign Relations
Committee. Their presence marked the first time members of Congress had visited Gaza since US personnel were killed in a roadside bomb in 2003.
OBAMA HAS ALSO APPOINTED A SLEW OF ANTI-ZIONIST.
OBAMA WILL PUT MORE PRESSURE ON ISRAEL THAN ON THE ARABS.
NO SURPRISE HERE: HIS MIDDLE NAME IS HUSSEIN. AND HE'S A LEFTIE. A MIX OF CHAMBERLAIN AND ATTLEE.
A DISASTER. AS BAD ON FOREIGN POLICY AS ON THE RECESSION AND SPENDING.