Israel Residents Warned Not to Speak with US Snoops

First time I can remember this level of distrust for an American administration.  Probably no wonder that Obama's approval rating is in the single digits among Israelis.

Emissaries of the Obama administration have been traveling around Judea and Samaria in recent weeks, asking residents about construction in their towns and passing the information back to Washington. In Efrat, for instance, the “capital” of Gush Etzion, Regional Council head Sha’ul Goldstein met with an American diplomat who asked for a briefing on the pace of construction in the region. [...]

Elyakim Haetzni, a long-time resident of Kiryat Arba, 25 minutes to the south, is more wary. In a letter to his fellow settlers this week, Haetzni wrote, “It is likely that an American investigator/supervisor will arrive in your town. We should not cooperate in any way with those who come openly to restrict our progress and to actually uproot us from our roots.”

“In light of the pressure constantly being exerted upon us from the Americans,” Haetzni continued, “cooperation with them is like a victim cooperating with his executioner.”