world >> opinion

Kerry's Betrayal Of Israel

W

hen the Times of Israel's Avi
Issacharoff first reported
the content of John Kerry's
cease-fire proposal on Friday afternoon, I
wondered if something had gotten lost in
translation. It seemed inconceivable
that the American secretary of state
would have drafted an initiative
that, as a priority, did not require
the dismantling of Hamas' rocket
arsenal and network of tunnels dug
under the Israeli border. Yet the
reported text did not address these
issues at all, nor call for the demili-
tarization of Gaza.
It seemed inconceivable that
the secretary's initiative would
specify the need to address Hamas'
demands for a lifting of the siege
of Gaza, as though Hamas were a
legitimate injured party acting in
the interests of the people of Gaza — rather
than the terror group that violently seized
control of the strip in 2007, diverted Gaza's
resources to its war effort against Israel, and
could be relied upon to exploit any lifting
of the "siege" in order to import yet more
devastating weaponry with which to kill
Israelis.
Israel and the U.S. are meant to be allies;
the U.S. is meant to be committed to the
protection of Israel in this most ruthless of
neighborhoods; together, the U.S. and Israel
are meant to be trying to marginalize the
murderous Islamic extremism that threat-
ens the free world. Yet here was the top
U.S. diplomat appearing to accommodate a
vicious terrorist organization bent on Israel's
destruction, with a formula that would leave

Hamas better equipped to achieve that goal.
The appalled response to the Kerry pro-
posal by the members of the security cabi-
net on Friday night, however, made plain
nothing had gotten lost in translation at all.
The secretary's proposal man-
aged to unite Israel's disparate
group of key political lead-
ers — from Naftali Bennett
and Avigdor Liberman on the
right, through Prime Minister
Benjamin Netanyahu, to Yair
Lapid and Tzipi Livni on the
center-left — in a unanimous
response of horrified rejection
and leaked castigation.
The Netanyahu govern-
ment has had no shortage
of run-ins with Kerry in the
mere 18 months he has held
office. The prime minister
publicly pleaded with him in November
not to sign the interim deal with Iran on its
rogue nuclear program, and there has been
constant friction between the two govern-
ments over thwarting Iran's bid for the
bomb. Defense Minister Moshe Ya'alon in
January ridiculed Kerry's security propos-
als for a West Bank withdrawal, calling the
secretary "messianic" and obsessive" in his
quest for an accord with the Palestinians
that simply wasn't there. The collapse of
the talks in March-April was accompanied
by allegations from Jerusalem that Kerry
had botched the process, telling Israel one
thing and the Palestinian Authority another,
including misrepresenting Israel's position
on Palestinian prisoner releases.
But none of those episodes, though deep-

U.S. Secretary of
State John Kerry
talks by phone
to Israeli Prime

neled under the Egyptian ini-
tiative," a document, to quote
from another of those leaked
comments, that reads like it
Minister Benjamin was drawn up for or even by
Netanyahu on July Hamas' Khaled Mashaal.
25 from his hotel
And Kerry didn't let up
room in Cairo,
after unleashing his dreadful
Egypt.
proposal. Following Friday's
fiasco, he jetted off to Paris
and, quite extraordinarily,
convened further consulta-
tions dominated by countries
ly troubling and relating to issues central to
that overtly wish to do Israel harm. He
Israel's well-being, provoked the kind of out- met with his counterparts from Turkey,
raged disbelief at Kerry's performance that
whose Hamas-backing leadership has lately
has been emanating from the Israeli lead-
accused Israel of attempting genocide in
ership in the past 48 hours. Leaked com-
Gaza and compared Netanyahu to Hitler,
ments from unnamed senior government
and with Qatar, Hamas' funder-in-chief,
sources to Army Radio, Channel 2 and other directly accused by President Shimon Peres
Hebrew outlets have described the secretary last week of financing Hamas' rockets and
as amateurish, incompetent, incapable of
tunnels. Staggeringly, he did not bring
understanding the material he is dealing
Israel, Egypt or the P.A. to his Paris sessions.
with — in short, a blithering fool.
When Kerry's predecessor, Hillary
But actually, it's worse than that. What
Clinton, got involved in the effort to broker
emerges from Kerry's self-initiated cease-fire terms for ending Operation Pillar of Defense
mission — Israel had already accepted the
in November 2012, it was self-evident, first,
Egyptian cease-fire proposal; and nobody
that a cease-fire was at hand, and, second,
asked him to come out on a trip he pref-
that the diplomatic work was being coordi-
aced with sneering remarks about Israel's
nated effectively with Jerusalem to ensure
attempted "pinpoint" strikes on Hamas ter-
that Israel's vital interests were being served.
ror targets — is that Jerusalem now regards
It is a testament to Kerry's incompetence (or
him as duplicitous and dangerous.
worse) and to the collapse of faith between
Contrary to his public claim at his press
him and Israel, that, when he headed igno-
conference in Cairo that his cease-fire
miniously home on Saturday, neither of
proposal was "built on" the Egyptian initia-
those assumptions held sway.
tive, it manifestly is nothing of the kind. As
Whether through ineptitude, malice or
indicated by the unconfirmed text reported
both, Kerry's intervention was not a case
by Issacharoff, by other subsequent reports
of America's top diplomat coming to our
of its content and by the cabinet's outraged
region to help ensure, through astute nego-
rejection, it is a proposal that, to quote an
tiation, the protection of a key ally. This was
unnamed official cited by Channel 2, "tun-
a betrayal.

'Israel Has No Better Friend Than Kerry'

Rebecca Shimoni Stoll
Times of Israel

T

he Obama administration went on
the defensive Monday afternoon,
criticizing Israeli sources for leaking
details of a Gaza cease-fire draft, downplay-
ing the status of the draft and then deny-
ing allegations that the draft represented a
capitulation to Hamas demands.
"We were surprised that the draft was
leaked to the press," State Department
Spokesperson Jen Psaki told reporters
Monday. Leaks and criticism of the sort that
Secretary of State John Kerry faced over the
weekend are "simply not the way allies and
partners treat each other," Psaki complained.
Psaki emphasized that "there was never a
formal U.S. proposal presented," explaining
that the U.S. had instead "sent a confidential-
labeled draft of ideas based on the Egyptian
proposal."

36 July 31 • 2014

1

unfortunately, I think was misin-
formed or an effort to misinform."
1
Blinken also defended Kerry,
0
arguing that "Israel has no better
friend, no stronger defender."
"No one," said Blinken, "has
done more" to achieve peace in
the region.
Far from including Hamas
demands, as Israeli officials
complained that the U.S. plan
did, Psaki said that the "main
difference" was that the U.S. draft
John Kerry, center, stands with Turkish Foreign
included more specific language
Minister Ahmet Davutoglu, left, and Qatari Foreign
regarding humanitarian aid to
Minister Khalid al-Attiyah in Paris on July 26.
Gaza.
Defending against Israeli com-
Deputy National Security Adviser Tony
plaints that the document did not address
Blinken took a step even further back than
the problems of Hamas terror tunnels into
Psaki, describing the leaked document as a
Israel, Psaki said that there was no mention
"discussion paper based on ... the original
of tunnels in the Egyptian cease-fire proposal
Egyptian initiative."
that Israel had already approved, and which
Blinken suggested that "what was leaked,
Hamas rejected.

❑

Psaki also defended against complaints
that Kerry's primary interlocutors in con-
figuring his proposal were not Israel, the
Palestinian Authority or Egypt, but rather
Turkey and Qatar.
"When people are dying, it's important
to engage parties that have influence on
Hamas," she countered.
The "U.S. objective has been and remains
stopping the rocket fire against Israeli citi-
zens," Psaki continued, adding that the first
step to such an outcome was the mainte-
nance of a humanitarian cease-fire.
Addressing members of the media early
Monday afternoon, Blinken acknowledged
that the challenges posed by urban counter-
terror operations were not limited to Israel.
"Civilian suffering in Gaza is great and grow-
ing every day," he said, adding that "this is
a problem we've grappled with in Iraq and
Afghanistan."
Likewise, Blinken said that "the record
is clear" that Israel acceded to the Egyptian
cease-fire proposal, while Hamas did not,
and [Hamas] "intentionally targets
civilians:' ❑