Netanyahu's office: No change in settlement policy

Comments come after Netanyahu's senior security adviser reportedly says settlements eroding Western support for Israel.

By JPOST.COM STAFF
Netanyahu speaking against Gilo backdrop 390 (photo credit: Moshe Milner / GPO)
Netanyahu speaking against Gilo backdrop 390
(photo credit: Moshe Milner / GPO)
Prime Minister Binyamin Netanyahu has not changed his position on settlements, Israel Radio quoted an official in his office as saying Thursday. The comment comes in the wake of a report that Netanyahu's senior security adviser said settlements impede Western support of Israel.
According to Haaretz, National Security Council head Yaakov Amidror recently told closed-door meetings at the Prime Minister's Bureau that Israel's insistence on continuing settlement construction is costing it international support even among its most stalwart friends.
"It's impossible to explain the issue of settlement construction anyplace in the world," Amidror was quoted as saying.
"It's impossible to explain this matter to German Chancellor Angela Merkel or even to Canadian Prime Minister Stephen Harper. Construction in the settlements has become a diplomatic problem and is causing Israel to lose support even among its friends in the West," Haaretz quoted Amidror as saying at a closed discussion.
Amidror, a religious former head of research in Military Intelligence, has long been associated with the right. He recently told Israeli ambassadors serving abroad after who expressed concern about Israeli settlement construction in E1 that they should either represent Israel's position, resign or go into politics.