George Mitchell said the United States continues to demand that Israel halt "natural growth" of settlements. And that doesn't mean just no no new houses, apartments, schools or kindergartens. That means no new babies.
In a press briefing Tuesday at the State Department, the Obama administration's special envoy to the Middle East called "highly inaccurate" an Israeli newspaper report that the Obama administration would allow "natural growth" of settlements. Mitchell, of Lebanese Arab ancestry, emphasized there has been "no change in our policy."
When asked for a definition of what the term "natural growth" means, Mitchell was unclear -- first saying there was no accepted definition, then stating that "the most common definition" is "number of births."
"Well, of course, one of the issues is that there is no universally used and accepted definition," he said, according to a transcript. "The most common definition is by the number of births, but there are many variations of that. I’ve had numerous discussions with many Israeli and other officials, and there are almost as many definitions as there are people speaking. But I think the most commonly used measure is the number of births."
Mitchell declined to elaborate further when ask a follow-up question. It is unclear whether the American prohibition on Jewish births in Judea and Samaria will also extend to sexual relations. Unclear too is whether the US will follow the Herod and Pharaoh precedents and favor eliminating Jewish newborns as well.
Tags: birth prohibition, buffoon, mitchell, natural growth, settlements
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