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The July 6th, 2010 meeting of the two leaders went much more smoothly than last time. Many Israelis expected President Obama to urge Prime Minister Netanyahu to extend the settlement freeze in Judea and Samaria. MK Danny Danon has stated that he feels it is Netanyahu’s responsibility to tell Obama that it is the right of Jews to live in Jerusalem, and the world must respect these rights. Danon firmly believes that the Prime Minister must adhere to the right-wing Likud platforms, and make sure building will resume on September 26th in Judea and Samaria.
President Obama began by stating that he strongly believes direct peace talks must occur before the 10-month building freeze in the settlements is up. Obama said, “I believe Prime Minister Netanyahu wants peace. I think he is willing to take risks for peace.” In response, Netanyahu simply stated that measures are being taken to further the peace process.
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Likud approves resumption of construction upon freeze’s end
Likud Central Committee votes in favor of resumption of construction in settlements in September; prime minister conspicuously missing from vote
The Likud Central Committee approved Thursday a proposal put forward by Knesset Member Danny Danon calling for the resumption of construction in the settlements in September upon the end of the temporary freeze period announced by Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu. The prime minister did not attend the vote, as an act of protest.
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ISRAEL: New campaign counts down to end of settlement construction freeze
April 23, 2010 | 10:57 am
Also around that corner are several members of Netanyahu’s political party who opposed the freeze from the beginning and eagerly await its expiration date. He had promised them that building would resume after the freeze, and they’re waiting with a stopwatch. Or rather, an hourglass.
Danny Danon, deputy speaker of parliament, is launching a countdown campaign with a virtual hourglass and ticker showing time left on the freeze. It is meant as “a reminder to Prime Minister Netanyahu that we are counting down the days and hours until the end of this mistaken building freeze,” Danon, of the Likud Party, said. “We know that the Americans will begin pressuring the prime minister in May to extend the freeze, and we hope to counter this effort by helping him remain firm in his commitment to the residents of Judea and Samaria and to the principles of our history and his movement.”
Source: Los Angeles Times
No-State Solution
By Rob Eshman
If you want to know what Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu thinks about the peace process, don’t watch what he does, listen to what Danny Danon says.
Danon is a whippersnapper member of Knesset from the Likud party. In 2006, he opposed then-Prime Minister Ariel Sharon’s disengagement from Gaza. For the past year, he’s been attacking Netanyahu for suspending new settlement construction per the United States’ demands. When the Obama administration chastised Netanyahu last March for announcing new building in East Jerusalem, it was Danon who snapped back, saying U.S. pressure on Israel hurts Israel and hurts peace. If you saw the movie “Youth in Revolt” with Michael Cera (and you should, it’s a very good movie with a very bad trailer), Danon is like Cera’s belligerent alter ego, egging him on, toughening him up. In other words, Danny Danon is Bibi Netanyahu, 20 years ago.
I met Danon in the lobby of the Beverly Hilton Hotel in late March, after he’d spent a few days speaking around Southern California. He is a native Israeli of North African heritage, dark-featured, and was decked out in a well-cut suit and power tie — not your father’s shirt-sleeve Israeli pol. At 39, he is chairman of the World Likud and Deputy Speaker of the Knesset. People said that if I wanted to meet the future of Israel, I had to meet Danny Danon.
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