NYJW: Trump Admin’s Shift On Israeli Settlements Jars Pro-Israel Community

By Shira and Nathan Jeffay

Splitting U.S. Jews

Israel’s settlement-building activity has long irked American Jews, especially younger ones. Pompeo’s remarks elicited a cacophony of predictable responses, most of them along partisan lines.

Groups on the left condemned the move, saying it would open the door to unlimited settlement building and, eventually, total annexation of the West Bank and the end of the Jewish democratic state.

Halie Soifer, executive director of the Jewish Democratic Council of America, said the announcement constituted “a green light for Israeli annexation of the West Bank, which will permanently impede prospects for a two-state solution.”