Diplomats, journalists, and President Obama have castigated Benjamin Netanyahu for his allegedly intransigent policy of expanding Jewish settlement. In fact, as Evelyn Gordon writes, this does not accord with any actual evidence:
According to official data from Israel’s Central Bureau of Statistics, housing construction in West Bank settlements fell by a whopping 52 percent last year—far greater than the 8- percent decline in construction nationwide. Moreover, the bureau said, settlement construction throughout Benjamin Netanyahu’s six years as prime minister has been significantly lower than it was under his predecessors . . . Ariel Sharon and Ehud Olmert, while the number of housing completions was 15 percent lower.
This . . . is just one example of a far broader problem: Too many international journalists and diplomats see Israel and its leaders through the prism of a preconceived narrative, and any facts that don’t conform to this narrative are simply ignored. Netanyahu is “right-wing,” so he must be building massively in the settlements, even if he isn’t. . . . Netanyahu is “hardline,” so he must be to blame for the failure of peace talks, even if in reality—as was evident from American officials’ own testimony at the time and confirmed by a leaked document just last week—Netanyahu was prepared to make dramatic concessions, while Palestinian Authority President Mahmoud Abbas refused to budge.
Read more on Evelyn Gordon: http://evelyncgordon.com/settlement-data-once-again-shows-bibis-hardline-image-doesnt-match-reality/