Two false statements by the US State Department this week in regard to the current wave of terrorism in Israel has infuriated those who truly understand the situation – not least of all Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu.
Secretary of State John Kerry spoke at Harvard University on Tuesday, where he claimed that lack of a peace process and Israeli settlements were the cause of this terrorism.
“What’s happening is that, unless we get going, a two-state solution could conceivably be stolen from everybody. And there’s been a massive increase in settlements over the course of the last years, and now you have this violence because there’s a frustration that is growing.”
Secretary Kerry’s premise is entirely wrong. The Palestinian terrorists have been very clear what incited this wave of violence: the libelous claim from Islamic religious leaders and Palestinian President Abbas that Israel was trying to change the status quo and prevent Muslim worship at the Al-Aqsa mosque on the Temple Mount.
Two days later, Kerry finally got around to condemning the Palestinian violence and affirming US support for Israel’s right to self-defense.
But not before another State Department spokesman, John Kirby, gave a press briefing where he accused Israel of using “excessive force” in responding to the terrorist attacks and violent Palestinian protests. He went on to condemn the stabbing of four Arab men by Jewish Israelis as an act of terror, indirectly implying that Israel was responsible for their actions despite harsh and immediate condemnation of the attack by the Israeli government and swift legal action to bring the perpetrators to justice. In contrast, Palestinian leaders praise and encourage acts of terrorism and do nothing to prosecute the terrorists. In fact, the Palestinian Authority uses American foreign aid money to pay hefty pensions to the families of the terrorists. That the State Department would try to draw moral equivalence between the Israelis and the Palestinians in this matter is absurd.
Kirby also falsely stated that Israel’s change of the status quo on the Temple Mount was responsible for the Palestinian frustration he cited as cause for the violence. Kirby was forced to retract his statement about the Temple Mount a few hours later, saying on Twitter:
“I did not intend to suggest that status quo at Temple Mount/Haram al-Sharif has been broken. We welcome both Israel’s & Jordan’s commitment to continued maintenance of status quo at Temple Mount/Haram al-Sharif.”
Prime Minister Netanyahu responded forcefully to these accusations on Thursday:
“This wave of attacks is not the result of lack of political horizon. We’ve been suffering terror attacks for the last 95 years. 1920, 1921, 1936 to 1939, the fedayeen attacks, the intifada attacks, they were actually at their height during the beginning of the Oslo peace process. And people said, well this is because these are enemies of peace, so … the explanation for the terrorist waves that we had then was the advance of peace.
Now they say: You have terrorist attacks because there is no peace. Neither is true. They’re attacking us not because they want peace or don’t want peace. It’s because they don’t want us here. If they’re frustrated, I assure you that frustration will continue because we’re going to continue to be here.”
Netanyahu went on to address the accusation of excessive force:
“We expect every fair-minded observer to see that Israel is using exactly the kind of legitimate, and the amount of legitimate force that any one of those governments and those municipalities and those police forces would use if they had people wielding knives, meat cleavers, axes, trying to kill people on their streets.
What do you think would happen in New York if you saw people rushing into crowds trying to murder people? What do you think they would do? Do you think they would do anything different from what we’re doing? They might, actually, but certainly not less. Okay? And what would happen in Washington? And what would happen in London? Or what would happen in Paris or Rome or Moscow or anywhere else? Of course this allegation is totally false. It’s utterly false. It’s also utterly unfair, because it’s so obviously patently false.”
Netanyahu isn’t the only one outraged by the State Department’s irresponsible comments. At least two United States lawmakers, presidential candidate Senator Ted Cruz (R-TX) and Congressman Lee Zeldin (R-NY), have called for Kerry and Kirby to resign because of their slanderous remarks against a key American ally.
Zeldin said:
“It is absolutely disgusting and shameful that the Obama Administration not only refuses to stand strong with our ally in Israel, but actually has the audacity to claim that the Israelis are guilty of terrorism.”
Senator Cruz demanded Kerry’s immediate resignation:
“Once again Sec. Kerry and his staff have proven themselves utterly unfit for the positions they hold. Mr. Kirby should immediately retract his offensive assertion that Israel is ‘guilty of acts of terror’ or resign, and Secretary Kerry should immediately disavow these remarks or resign.
The Obama Administration is the most hostile we have seen towards the nation of Israel in our nation’s history. In the last few days, this obsessive antagonism has been on full display.”
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