Kerry Warns Israel Could Become ‘An Apartheid State’
The secretary of state said that if Israel doesn’t make peace soon, it could become ‘an apartheid state,’ like the old South Africa. Jewish leaders are fuming over the comparison.
Josh Rogin
The Daily Beast
4/27/2014
If there’s no two-state solution to the Israeli-Palestinian conflict soon, Israel risks becoming “an apartheid state,” Secretary of State John Kerry told a room of influential world leaders in a closed-door meeting Friday.
Senior American officials have rarely, if ever, used the term “apartheid” in reference to Israel, and President Obama has previously rejected the idea that the word should apply to the Jewish state. Kerry’s use of the loaded term is already rankling Jewish leaders in America—and it could attract unwanted attention in Israel, as well.
It wasn’t the only controversial comment on the Middle East that Kerry made during his remarks to the Trilateral Commission, a recording of which was obtained by The Daily Beast. Kerry also repeated his warning that a failure of Middle East peace talks could lead to a resumption of Palestinian violence against Israeli citizens. He suggested that a change in either the Israeli or Palestinian leadership could make achieving a peace deal more feasible. He lashed out against Israeli settlement-building. And Kerry said that both Israeli and Palestinian leaders share the blame for the current impasse in the talks.
Kerry also said that at some point, he might unveil his own peace deal and tell both sides to “take it or leave it.”…
Go to The Daily Beast to read more about Secretary Kerry’s thoughts on diplomacy.
Related: Sen. Ted Cruz: John Kerry should resign for apartheid comments
…Cruz said Kerry has “repeatedly demonstrated a willingness to countenance a world in which Israel is made a pariah because it will not sacrifice its security” for the sake of Kerry’s desire to broker a deal between the Israelis and the Palestinians…
Video from an article at The Washington Free Beacon:
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Today, Kerry: ‘I Will Not Allow My Commitment to Israel to be Questioned by Anyone’
…I will not allow my commitment to Israel to be questioned by anyone, particularly for partisan, political purposes, so I want to be crystal clear about what I believe and what I don’t believe…
‘Sorry, Candy, Whoa!’ Benjamin Netanyahu Vigorously Schools Candy Crowley (video)
…So, I chose deliberately, openly, specifically, and explicitly to negotiate with that part of the Palestinian people that said it was willing to make peace with Israel. I said, we’re not going to try to include the other part that seeks our extermination. And that’s what I did.
I have been very consistent on this. Now that he’s joined them, I say this. Look, unity for peace is good. Unity with Hamas that seeks to exterminate Israel, the opposite of peace, is bad. I have always been consistent on this.
I negotiate with those who are willing to make peace with my country. I will not negotiate with those who seek to exterminate peace with my country, whether they sit in the front office or the back office. That’s not where I’m going to go…
Netanyahu On Failed Peace Talks With Palestinians (video)
Israel Prime Minister, Benjamin Netanyahu explains to Special Report’s Bret Baier why peace talks with the Palestinians are dead for now, and worries openly about US talks with Iran.
Update: Sen. Paul: End Aid to Palestinian Government until They Recognize Israel’s Right to Exist Will introduce measure this week in Congress
HAREDI CHILDREN WERE CURSED AT BY MUSLIMS ON THE TEMPLE MOUNT
…In footage taken by Fertig during the incident, Muslim worshipers can be seen shouting angrily, gesturing and attempting to reach the ultra-Orthodox group while the children cower and cry in fear, with only Israeli border policemen standing between the two groups and preventing a further escalation. The group was then escorted by security forces out of the compound…
Read the whole thing.
Update 2: It’s Come to This: State Department Nitwit Jen Psaki Now Tweeting Think Progress and Daily Kos Links
Thinkprogress & dailykos? Have you lost your mind, @statedeptspox? Close this account you disgraceful buffoon.
— Mary Magdalen (@Gr8LakesCzarina) April 28, 2014
Read the whole thing!
Update 3: American negligence central to peace talks crisis, Israeli source says
Conflicting messages conveyed by Kerry’s office to Palestinians and Israelis over prisoner releases ‘created a huge problem’
