John "hairstyle in seach of a brain" Kerry tried to look tough with the zionist state - for a day
John
Kerry backpedals on Israel ‘apartheid state’ comment
Secretary
of State John Kerry, under fire for warning that Israel risks
becoming “an apartheid state” in the absence of a peace deal,
released a statement Monday evening pushing back hard.
29
April, 2014
“I
will not allow my commitment to Israel to be questioned by anyone,
particularly for partisan, political purposes,” Kerry said in a
release put out by the State Department. “… If I could rewind the
tape, I would have chosen a different word to describe my firm belief
that the only way in the long term to have a Jewish state and two
nations and two peoples living side by side in peace and security is
through a two state solution.”
The
tape in question was published by the Daily Beast on Sunday — a
recording of Kerry’s comments to a meeting of the Trilateral
Commission on Friday in which he lamented the breakdown of talks
between the Israelis and Palestinians.
“A
two-state solution will be clearly underscored as the only real
alternative. Because a unitary state winds up either being an
apartheid state with second-class citizens — or it ends up being a
state that destroys the capacity of Israel to be a Jewish state,”
Kerry says in the recording.
From
across the spectrum of right to left, the condemnations rolled in
Monday. Anti-Defamation League national director Abe Foxman called
the apartheid comment “startling and deeply disappointing.” The
American Israel Public Affairs Committee said the comment was “deeply
troubling” and “inappropriate.” In a statement, AIPAC said,
“Any suggestion that Israel is, or is at risk of becoming, an
apartheid state is offensive and inappropriate.”
In
addition, Republican Jewish Coalition executive director Matt Brooks
called it “inflammatory and inaccurate.” The National Jewish
Democratic Council expressed its “deep disappointment.” Sen. Ted
Cruz (R-Texas) called on Kerry to resign.
Kerry
was speaking at the end of the most difficult week yet in his
attempts to make progress on peace between the Israelis and
Palestinians — and just ahead of the official April 29 deadline for
extending negotiations.
Just
a few weeks ago, Kerry left the region in frustration and declared
“reality-check time” when the two sides could not agree to terms
in a prisoner exchange. Just last week, Palestinian President Mahmoud
Abbas announced plans to strike a reconciliation deal with Hamas —
which the United States and Israel designate a terrorist
organization, but which has political control in the Gaza Strip —
ending a nearly decadelong split between that group and Abbas’
Palestinian Authority, which has control over the West Bank.
Abbas’
outreach to Hamas drew the condemnation of Israeli Prime Minister
Benjamin Netanyahu, who said Israel would never negotiate with a
government that accepts Hamas, which officially calls for the
destruction of Israel. In response, the State Department said last
week it acknowledged that the reconciliation would create conditions
that the Israelis can’t be expected to negotiate under.
President
Barack Obama gave his own disappointed assessment of the status of
the peace process at a news conference Friday in South Korea, adding
his own point of warning.
“There
may come a point at which there just needs to be a pause, and both
sides need to look at the alternatives,” Obama said. “As I’ve
said in the past and I will continue to repeat: Nobody has offered me
a serious scenario in which peace is not made between Israelis and
Palestinians and we have a secure, democratic Jewish state of Israel
and the Palestinians have a state.”
Kerry
still declared himself hopeful earlier last week — but by Friday,
special peace envoy Martin Indyk was headed back to Washington and
the secretary of state was blaming both sides in a private meeting
with leaders from North America, Western Europe and Japan.
The
“apartheid” reference in those remarks was an attempt to warn
what might happen if the two sides aren’t able to reach a solution
— though in his apology he said, “I do not believe, nor have I
ever stated, publicly or privately, that Israel is an apartheid state
or that it intends to become one.”
Kerry,
in his statement, said that everything in his record showed him to be
a strong supporter of Israel, arguing that his word choice had
created a “misimpression.”
“For
more than thirty years in the United States Senate, I didn’t just
speak words in support of Israel, I walked the walk when it came time
to vote and when it came time to fight. As Secretary of State, I have
spent countless hours working with Prime Minister Netanyahu and
Justice Minister [Tzipi] Livni [who is leading peace talks for the
Israelis] because I believe in the kind of future that Israel not
only wants, but Israel deserves,” Kerry said. “I want to see a
two state solution that results in a secure Jewish state and a
prosperous Palestinian state, and I’ve actually worked for it.”
“While
Justice Minister Livni, former Prime Ministers [Ehud] Barak and
[Ehud] Ohlmert have all invoked the specter of apartheid to
underscore the dangers of a unitary state for the future,” Kerry
concluded, “it is a word best left out of the debate here at home.”
From
yesterday -
Israel
risks becoming apartheid state if peace talks fail, says John Kerry
It
is believed to be the first time a US official of Kerry's standing
has used the term 'apartheid' in the context of Israel
28
April, 2014
The
US secretary of state, John Kerry, has warned in a closed-door
meeting in Washington that Israel risks becoming an "apartheid
state" if US-sponsored efforts to reach an Israeli-Palestinian
peace settlement fail.
In
an apparent sign of Kerry's deep frustration over the almost certain
collapse of the current nine-month round of peace talks – due to
conclude on Tuesday – he blamed both sides for the lack of progress
and said failure could lead to a resumption of Palestinian violence
against Israeli citizens.
The
remarks were made on Friday at the Trilateral Commission, a
non-governmental organisation of experts and officials from the US,
western Europe, Russia and Japan. A recording was acquired by the
Daily Beast website.
Kerry
also suggested that a change of either Israeli or Palestinian
leadership might create more favourable conditions for peace and the
final, long-delayed agreement on the shape of a Palestinian state.
Aftewards,
as a public storm grew around the remarks, Kerry issued a statement
regretting the use of the word apartheid, saying it had opened him to
"partisan political" attacks.
"If
I could rewind the tape, I would have chosen a different word,"
he said.
Israeli
leaders had made similar points in the past but "apartheid [is]
a word best left out of the debate here at home", Kerry said.
Regardless
of the apology, Kerry's remarks represent a significant departure, as
senior US officials historically have avoided the word "apartheid"
relating to Israeli policies. It is believed to be the first time a
US official of Kerry's standing has used the contentious term in the
context of Israel, even if only as a warning for the future.
The
Emergency Committee for Israel, whose chairman is the prominent
neo-conservative William Kristol, said: "On Friday secretary of
state John Kerry raised the spectre of Israel as an 'apartheid
state'. Even Barack Obama condemned the use of this term when running
for president in 2008. It is no longer enough for the White House to
clean up after the messes John Kerry has made. It is time for John
Kerry to step down as secretary of state, or for President Obama to
fire him."
Although
the danger to Israel of a failure to move towards a two-state
solution has been framed by Israeli politicians in terms similar to
those used by Kerry, US officials have long been wary of following
suit. When the former president Jimmy Carter used it for the tile of
his 2006 book Palestine: Peace or Apartheid it caused controversy.
Kerry's
comments reflect similar recent warnings to Israel from western
diplomats that the collapse of the peace talks might lead to the
country's increasing isolation.
Kerry
said: "A two-state solution will be clearly underscored as the
only real alternative. Because a unitary state winds up either being
an apartheid state with second-class citizens – or it ends up being
a state that destroys the capacity of Israel to be a Jewish state.
"Once
you put that frame in your mind, that reality, which is the bottom
line, you understand how imperative it is to get to the two-state
solution, which both leaders, even yesterday, said they remain deeply
committed to."
Kerry
has had a sometimes strained relationship with some senior Israeli
officials as the peace talks have become gridlocked. In January
Israel's defence minister, Moshe Ya'alon, described Kerry as
"obsessive and messianic".
In
2008 in an interview during his election campaign, Barack Obama
explicitly rejected "injecting a term like apartheid" into
the discussion over Israel and Palestine. "It's emotionally
loaded, historically inaccurate, and it's not what I believe,"
he said.
Attempting
to defuse the row, Jen Psaki, spokesperson for the US state
department, said: "Secretary Kerry, like justice minister Livni
and previous Israeli prime ministers Olmert and Barak, was
reiterating why there's no such thing as a one-state solution if you
believe, as he does, in the principle of a Jewish state.
"[Kerry]
was talking about the kind of future Israel wants and the kind of
future both Israelis and Palestinians would want to envision. The
only way to have two nations and two peoples living side by side in
peace and security is through a two-state solution. And without a
two-state solution, the level of prosperity and security the Israeli
and Palestinian people deserve isn't possible."
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