By Humeyra Pamuk and Alexander Cornwell
WASHINGTON/JERUSALEM, Sept 23 – In early September, US officials in Jerusalem and Washington prepared a draft statement attributed to Secretary of State Marco Rubio condemning plans by the UK, France and Canada to block imports from Israeli settlements in the occupied West Bank. The September 8 dated document, previously unreported and which two sources said was driven by David Milstein, an influential aide to US Ambassador to Israel Mike Huckabee, proposed that Rubio describe the countries’ actions as a series of hostile measures against Israel that contribute to antisemitism. The statement was never released.
The episode illustrates a widening divide between the White House and Trump’s senior diplomats in Israel about how best to respond to the expansion of Israeli settlements under Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu’s right-wing government. That has at times put him at odds with Huckabee, a Baptist minister who is a staunch supporter of settlements and who refers to the West Bank by its biblical name, Judea and Samaria, a term used by the Israeli government but not formally adopted by the US.
“These tactics unacceptably draw from the playbook of the antisemitic boycotts, divestments and sanctions movement,” the draft document, reviewed by Reuters, said. In December last year, Trump said that he and Netanyahu, whose government has overseen a rapid expansion of settlements, did not fully agree on the West Bank following a meeting with the Israeli leader. That September, Trump said he would not allow Israel to annex the territory.
President Donald Trump earlier this year expressed his opposition to settlement expansion, a growing source of friction with Israel’s Arab neighbors, but his administration has put little pressure on Israel to change its policy.
