New reports emerged Thursday claiming President Barack Obama is considering imposing sanctions on Israel for continuing to build settlements in Palestinian occupied territory in Jerusalem.
Rather than issue empty statements condemning the action, Senior Israeli officials told Haaretz that over the past few weeks – beginning after Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu's last meeting at the White House in October – American officials have held classified discussions about possibly taking a more active approach against Israeli settlement expansion.
According to reports from Peace Now, an organization that works to maintain peace between Palestinians and Israelis, approval was recently given to build 2,600 housing units in Givat Hamatos, a neighborhood beyond the green demarcation line in Jerusalem.
A few senior Obama administration officials approached by Haaretz would neither confirm nor deny that the administration was considering Israeli sanctions.
State Department spokeswoman Marie Harf refused to comment about the reports when asked on Thursday, according to the Washington Free Beacon.
"I'm obviously not going to comment one way or another on reported internal deliberations," she said. "We've made clear our position on settlement activity publicly and that hasn't changed."
A White House National Security Council official also refused to comment on the report when contact by the Free Beacon on Thursday.
One senior congressional aide did speak under the conditions of anonymity, saying "If these reports are true, this would mark a new era of unprecedented hostility from the White House against our strongest ally in the Middle East."
"It's impossible not to notice the irony of the administration mulling sanctions on Israel while threatening to veto new sanctions against Iran."
"The president should be forewarned that taking such action against Israel would yield tremendous pushback from Congress," the aide added.
As Haaretz put it, when mulling over imposing sanctions on Israel, Obama likely finds himself between a rock and a hard place.
"Significant steps against the settlements may exact a heavy political price from Obama, while symbolic steps would be meaningless and have no effect," Haaretz reported.
