Secretary of State John Kerry, in his effort to broker a Middle East peace agreement, has faced a barrage of verbal attacks from high-ranking Israeli officials in recent weeks.
Kerry was cast as an anti-Semitic mouthpiece by Israel’s Economy Minister for observing the existence of the international boycott movement against Israel, and the economic danger it presents should peace talks fail. And he was branded as obsessive and messianic by Israel’s Defense Minister, who said, “The only thing that can ‘save’ us is that John Kerry will get a Nobel Peace Prize and leave us alone.”
On Wednesday, Kerry fired back on CNN:
“I’m not going to be intimidated and back down … I’ve been attacked before by people using real bullets, not words… No one should distort what we are saying because they are opposed to the peace process.”
For America’s top diplomat, currently engaged in an impossible diplomatic task, these words were uncharacteristically stark and blunt.
These words also indicate not just the growing frustration Kerry is personally feeling, but echo the frustrations of the Obama administration, which has rebuked Prime Minister Binyamin Netanyahu’s government several times for those denigrating statements made by top officials. (These rebukes have elicited apologies from officials.)
Of course, Kerry is no stranger to being swiftboated – to having distortions and mischaracterizations transposed for the truth. Only this time, Kerry is firing back. Immediately.
Perhaps Kerry’s task is ultimately doomed. Or perhaps he sees something we do not. Either way, he appears unwilling to allow right-wing smear campaigns to deter his efforts.
Such is the advantage of being an appointed politician.
-ยง-
David Harris-Gershon is author of the memoir What Do You Buy the Children of the Terrorist Who Tried to Kill Your Wife?, just out from Oneworld Publications.
Follow him on Twitter @David_EHG.
More about “backing down” perhaps for Kerry? He seems disinterested to hear the Israeli people or adopting a balanced approach with respect to Palestinian words and behavior.
Like the essayist, he seems more interested in sticking his thumb in the face of his friends, of those that actually believe in the principles he claims to espouse. He thinks it will make the adversaries like him more. Actually, it causes the opposite, but sometimes vanity and hubris clouds what is apparent.
Please cool it with your right-wing claptrap, Edward. The notion that Kerry is an adversary of Israel is ridiculous. You need to get better talking points from your allies in the Republicans Party.
Please put words in your own mouth Lauren, and not in mine. Or perhaps it’s just projection. You have NO IDEA of my political affiliation, yet here you toss around labels as if you do.
I did not say he is an adversary of Israel. Indeed, I said he is sticking his thumb in the face of his FRIENDS! So what are you talking about?
Abe Foxman said:
“Describing the potential for expanded boycotts of Israel makes it more, not less, likely that the talks will not succeed; makes it more, not less, likely that Israel will be blamed if the talks fail; and more, not less, likely that boycotts will ensue. Your comments, irrespective of your intentions, will inevitably be seen by Palestinians and anti-Israel activists as an incentive not to reach an agreement; as an indicator that if things fall apart, Israel will be blamed; and as legitimizing boycott activity.”
http://www.adl.org/press-center/press-releases/israel-middle-east/adl-issues-open-letter-to-john-kerry.html
I also said that most Israelis do not agree with his words. Do you dispute this? Does that make their objections “right-wing claptrap?” Or does it show an indifference to what Israelis feel?
In this case, Kerry seems more like the essayist, which is why the essayist lauds him for adopting a position that lacks balance and enables people that actually are adversaries to become hardened in their views that it is Israel who is responsible for the lack of peace.
Saying that Kerry is like the essayist is indeed right wing claptrap. Give it a rest.
I explained the basis for the comparison, which is more than you did by far. All you did was inaccurately put words in my mouth.
Your dismissive remark does not even address what I said.
Perhaps you should be the one resting.
To follow up, 20% of Israelis believe Kerry is an unbiased mediator, while 53% believe he is biased, and 70% reject the framework suggestion that Israel withdraw its security forces from the Jordan Valley.
http://www.israelhayom.com/site/newsletter_article.php?id=14623
I suggest that, like the essayist, Kerry is the one that is out of touch with Israelis here, and if you think it’s just “right wing claptrap” then so are you.
Indeed lauren… this is just more Rightist posturing. To say that Kerry is a “mouthpiece” for anti Semites or is
“sticking a thumb in the face of friends” (whatever that might mean) is ridiculous just because he mentioned BDS. It is merely an attempt by enemies of the Obama administration and the peace process to derail and de-legitimize the talks
See, here is what DHG and BDS supporters are trying to do and this is a prime example of trying to get Americans to turn on Israel and in turn have Israelis and their supporters be ever suspicious of Americans.
Also to say “most Israelis” don’t like to hear what Secretary Kerry says is fairly meaningless. I mean so what. Secretary Kerry’s job is NOT to be the mouthpiece for the YESHA and the Settlement movement. His job is to call it the way he sees it, and to say that if the talks fail that Israel COULD be facing boycotts is pretty much a statement of the obvious.
I mean Justice Minister Livni (who also happens to head the negotiations), Finance Minister Lapid, Prime Minister Netanyahu and.. why look at this… Foreign Minister Liberman all seem to think Secretary Kerry is a friend to Israel. I mean here are his exact words:
“”I want to make something clear,” said Liberman to a trade conference at the Hilton Hotel in Tel Aviv: “Kerry is a true friend of Israel. What’s the point of turning friends into enemies?
“John Kerry is leading the process correctly,” he continued. “We are now creating principles with the Americans in order to negotiate directly with the Palestinians, based on them.”
Read more: Liberman: Kerry is ‘a true friend’ of Israel | The Times of Israel http://www.timesofisrael.com/liberman-kerry-is-a-true-friend-of-israel/#ixzz2sfFC9zLO
It’s so refreshing to see Kerry (any American in government actually) stand up to the right-wing in Israel and here….whose talk of “peace” is a smokescreen for endless stalling while illegal settlements continue unabated and it becomes physically impossible for any Palestinian nation-state to ever exist in the West Bank and it becomes a de facto (if not de jure) part of Israel.
David,
I get that you want to play your role in fracturing the American – Israeli alliance. So I understand that you are trying to make Rightist elements of the Coalition seem like they are the only voices out there.
Given that, don’t you think what Finance Minister Lapid said was germane to conversation or what Justice Minister and Head of Negotiations Tzipi Livni said relative to Secretary Kerry and the fact that she spoke out against Minister Bennett’s and General Ya’alon’s words. Don’t you think that is important to note? OR does that simply go against your meme that America should not be friends with Israel?
Yes, there are voices in Israel that condemn the settlements and do want and work for a Palestinian nation-state. Unfortunately they don’t matter. Israel’s occupation/settlement policies are controlled by the right.
I meant to say controlled by the political and religious Zionists. Who are also the right-wing.
Oh Rich… Two things…
The first is that While you may be correct that the YESHA Authorities and some members of the Coalition (most of Likud (not all) and Habayit HaYehudi are certainly Rightists there are many elements involved here that are not. Tzipi Livni is a moderate and she is in charge of the negotiating team for a Peace Deal. Yair Lapid is not and he is a major coalition partner and FINANCE minister (which carries a heavy portfolio).
Even the Right is not monolithic. Why look at this: http://www.timesofisrael.com/liberman-kerry-is-a-true-friend-of-israel/
The second is that none of this is happening in a vacuum. The Palestinians are simply not clamoring to live in peace with the Israelis. Only 29% of the Palestinian Polity wants to live in a State where Jews and Arabs are equal citizens. Over 70% of Arabs insist on Right of Return to Pre-1967 Israel. That is reality. If anyone rejects the Kerry Framework it will probably be the Palestinians.
Then what will you say?