Revealed: Obama defied Congress to hand $220 MILLION to Palestinians in dying hours of his time in office - and gave millions for climate change too

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[h=1]Revealed: Obama defied Congress to hand $220 MILLION to Palestinians in dying hours of his time in office - and gave millions for climate change too[/h]

• State Department quietly sent $221 million in aid to the Palestinian Authority which Congress had voted to block
• Advisory vote by Republicans is usually respected - but Obama administration formally advised Congress on Friday morning that it was sending money anyway
• Other cash which was handed out including $4 million for climate change programs - a move likely to anger the Trump administration

By ASSOCIATED PRESS
PUBLISHED: 21:43, 23 January 2017 | UPDATED: 01:04, 24 January 2017

 

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Officials say the Obama administration in its waning hours defied Republican opposition and quietly released $221 million to the Palestinian Authority that GOP members of Congress had been blocking.
A State Department official and several congressional aides said the outgoing administration formally notified Congress it would spend the money Friday morning.
The official said former Secretary of State John Kerry had informed some lawmakers of the move shortly before he left the State Department for the last time Thursday.
The aides said written notification dated Jan. 20 was sent to Congress just hours before Donald Trump took the oath of office.
In addition to the $221 million for the Palestinians, the Obama administration also told Congress on Friday it was going ahead with the release of another $6 million in foreign affairs spending, including $4 million for climate change programs and $1.25 million for U.N. organizations, the congressional aides said.

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Last gesture: Obama's administration told Congress on Friday morning that it was ignoring a vote not to give the Palestinian Authority $221 million. Hours later he left office

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Ignoring Congress: John Kerry's State Department decided not to follow the vote to block the cash to the Palestinians.

The aides and the State Department official weren't authorized to speak publicly on the matter and demanded anonymity.

Congress had initially approved the Palestinian funding in budget years 2015 and 2016, but at least two GOP lawmakers - Ed Royce of California, the chairman of the House Foreign Affairs Committee, and Kay Granger of Texas, who sits on the House Appropriations Committee - had placed holds on it over moves the Palestinian Authority had taken to seek membership in international organizations.
Congressional holds are generally respected by the executive branch but are not legally binding after funds have been allocated.
The Obama administration had for some time been pressing for the release of the money for the Palestinian Authority, which comes from the U.S. Agency for International Development and is to be used for humanitarian aid in the West Bank and Gaza, to support political and security reforms as well as help prepare for good governance and the rule of law in a future Palestinian state, according to the notification sent to Congress.

 

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The $1.25 million for U.N. agencies is to be used as voluntary contributions to the U.N. Peacebuilding Fund; the U.N. Special Coordinator on improving the U.N. response to sexual exploitation and abuse; the Montreal Protocol Secretariat, which oversees the protection of the ozone layer; the Inter-American Commission on Human Rights; and the U.N. System Staff College.
The $4 million for climate programs includes assistance for clean energy, sustainable landscapes, cutting greenhouse gas emissions and creating a climate technology center.
The last-minute allocation also contained $1.05 million in funding for the State Department's Special Representative for Afghanistan and Pakistan office and the Bureau of South and Central Asian Affairs.

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Funded: The cash was a boost to Palestinian Mahmoud Abbasm who met King Abdullah II of Jordon on Sunday

The Palestinian funding is likely to draw anger from some in Congress as well as the Trump White House.
Trump has vowed to be a strong supporter of Israel and has invited Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu to visit Washington next month.
He has also pledged to move the U.S. Embassy in Israel from Tel Aviv to Jerusalem, although White House spokesman Sean Spicer said Monday a final decision on that had yet to be made.
Despite speculation in Israel that an announcement of the move is imminent, Spicer said the decision-making process is only in its very early stages.
'If it was already a decision, then we wouldn't be going through a process,' Spicer told reporters.

 

[superbeets]

Imagine what $221MM would have done for the American poor. Instead it went to line the pockets of the PLO and fund tyranny in that region of the world. The fact it was done in the 11th hour should speak volumes as to the intent to defy the will of the American tax payer and voter.

 

[superbeets]

Because that $220 million would have been wasted on our schools, our elderly, our sick and our veterans.

 

[superbeets]

That is $221 million going towards terrorism. I wish he had just stayed at the golf course for once! Obama... worst president in history. Thank God for Trump!

 

[superbeets]

Conclusive proof that Obama NEVER put the interests of America first. Trump will. The End.

 

[superbeets]

and yet this man is idolized...are they putting something in peoples water or food ?

 

[superbeets]

 

[StevieRay]

He defied so many times but the retards go crazy if Trump thinks about changing something. Smh

 

[StevieRay]

That is $221 million going towards terrorism. I wish he had just stayed at the golf course for once! Obama... worst president in history. Thank God for Trump!

Yea, his brotherhood. Stab Israel in the back and watch your children and children's children wilt away

 

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[h=1]Israel approves 2,500 new settler homes in the West Bank it pledged to build if Donald Trump became US President[/h]

• Settlement plans have been approved by Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu
• Makes good on promises to expand such building following Trump's election
• Most of the homes would be located within settlement blocks in the West Bank

 

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Israel has approved 2,500 new settler homes in the West Bank it pledged to build if Donald Trump became US President.
The plans, approved by Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu and Defence Minister Avigdor Lieberman, marked the largest recent announcement of settlement building by Israel.
The defence ministry announced the plans in a statement, saying most of the homes would be located within large settlement blocks in the West Bank.
Around 100 are to be located in the settlement of Beit El near Ramallah, it said. A Palestinian industrial zone near the West Bank city of Hebron was also approved.

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Israel has approved 2,500 new settler homes in the West Bank it pledged to build if Donald Trump became US President. This file picture from March, 2011 shows a construction site in the West Bank Jewish settlement of Modiin Illit.

 

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The move makes good on promises to expand such building following Trump's election.
Netanyahu spoke of the settlement approvals on Twitter.
'We are building and we will continue building,' he said.
Trump has signalled strong support for Israel, and Israeli right-wing politicians have sought to take advantage, with hardliners calling for an end to the idea of a Palestinian state.


Netanyahu has said he still supports a two-state solution, but reportedly told ministers Sunday that all restrictions on building settlements in annexed east Jerusalem were being lifted.
He also said Sunday he plans to expand construction in large settlement blocks in the West Bank, Israeli media reported, and that he foresees eventually bringing all settlements under Israeli sovereignty.
Trump is widely expected to be more sympathetic to Israel's settlement policies than the fiercely critical Obama administration, and has also vowed to move the U.S. Embassy from Tel Aviv to contested Jerusalem.

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Around 100 settler homes are to be located in the settlement of Beit El near Ramalla (file picture)

Israel's nationalist government has welcomed the prospective change in policy, but it also risks igniting Palestinian or even regional unrest.
Defense Minister Avigdor Lieberman said in a statement that he and Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu agreed on the approval 'in response to housing needs.'

He said the majority of the housing units will be built in settlement 'blocs,' areas where most settlers live and which Israel wants to keep under its control under any future peace deal with the Palestinians. Some 100 homes were slated for two smaller settlements.
'We are building — and we will continue to build,' Netanyahu wrote in a brief Facebook post.
Settlement construction was a contentious area of disagreement during the Obama years, when the White House sided with the Palestinians and the international community in condemning it as an obstacle to peace.
The Palestinians want the West Bank, as well the Gaza Strip and east Jerusalem — areas captured by Israel in the 1967 war — for their hoped-for state. They, along with much of the international community, view settlements as illegal.
Nabil Abu Rdeneh, a spokesman for Palestinian President Mahmoud Abbas, condemned the latest settlement plans, saying they would hurt peace hopes and 'promote extremism and terrorism.'

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The plans, approved by Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu (pictured) and Defence Minister Avigdor Lieberman, marked the largest recent announcement of settlement building by Israel

'This decision is a challenge and provocation and disregard for the Arab world and the international community and requires a real and serious position from the entire world,' he said.
Trump has signalled a softer approach to the settlements, and some of his top aides have close ties to the settler movement.
Beit El, one of the settlements mentioned in Tuesday's announcement, has received donations from Trump's designated ambassador to Israel and from the family of his son-in-law, Jared Kushner, now a White House adviser.
The approval came two days after Israel okayed nearly 600 settler homes in east Jerusalem, a move that would have elicited sharp censure under the Obama administration but which the Trump White House did not comment on.
Trump has not outlined a vision for the Israeli-Palestinian conflict, although he has said he'd be keen to broker a peace deal. His election platform made no mention of a Palestinian state.
His pledge to move the U.S. Embassy from coastal Tel Aviv to Jerusalem is vehemently opposed by the Palestinians. But since taking office, the White House has been vague about its plans for the embassy.
Earlier Tuesday, Gaza's Hamas rulers warned the U.S. not to move its embassy to Jerusalem, saying such a step could unleash new violence. The Islamic militant group said such a move would 'open a new chapter of conflict' and 'add fuel to the fire.'
The rival Palestinian Authority has also urged Trump not to follow through on his campaign promise to move the embassy.


UN Security Council calls for an end to Israeli settlements