Be skeptical on reports of U.S. actions on Israel

According to a report in the Israeli newspaper Ha’arez, the Obama administration is considering sanctions against Israel because of its construction of homes in East Jerusalem. Be very skeptical. The story is more than likely an attempt by the Obama administration to influence the upcoming Israeli election against Prime Minster Netanyahu.

Ha’arez attributes its story to unnamed Israeli officials who are purported to have said that the sanctions being considered include not vetoing U.N. Security Council condemnations of Jewish housing in Jerusalem, and/or issuing clearer instructions to American officials about the ban on cooperating with the settlements or funding activity in them.

Middle East scholar Barry Rubin, my friend and teacher of blessed memory, used to drill into my head that we should not be quick to believe stories coming out of the Middle East — think about the source, the timing, and where the news was leaked, he would say.

Well, the sanctions story was leaked in Israel. If the purpose of the leak was to change a possible U.S. policy, it would have been leaked to the New York Times or another U.S. news outlet. But this story was leaked to Ha’arez, a newspaper whose editorial policy is to bring down the Netanyahu government. And the the leak just happened to be published right after new Israeli elections were announced and scheduled.

Indeed Ha’arez alludes to the elections during in its story: “In addition, it isn’t yet clear how the decision to hold early elections will affect the White House’s decisions regarding the settlements. One of the aspects of this that is being looked into by the U.S. government is whether American action against the settlements at this point would weaken Netanyahu in Israeli public opinion, or do just the opposite, by portraying him as one who doesn’t cave in to international pressure.”

The next day, both the White House and the State Department refused to comment on the Ha’aretz story.

“I’m not going to talk about any internal deliberations,” White House Press Secretary Josh Earnest told Fox News’ Ed Henry when he asked at the daily presser.