In a conversation with students at Harvard University, US Secretary of State John Kerry placed the blame for Palestinian violence on Israel’s building in Jerusalem, Judea and Samaria.
US Secretary of State John Kerry placed the blame for the current Palestinian wave of terrorism on Israel’s building in Jerusalem, Judea and Samaria.
Kerry said, “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. Now you have this violence because there’s a frustration that is growing, and a frustration among Israelis who don’t see any movement. So I look at that and I say if that did explode – and I pray and hope it won’t and I think there are options to prevent that – but we would inevitably be – at some point we’re going to have to be engaged in working through those kinds of difficulties.”
He failed to mention Palestinian incitement against Israelis or Palestinian dissemination of lies about alleged Israeli plots to destroy the mosques on the Temple Mount or change the status quo there. Kerry also failed to discuss the proliferation of radical Islam among Palestinians and Israeli Arabs. These issues are what Israel believes to be the driving forces behind the current wave of Palestinian terror.
Kerry vowed that the Obama administration would use its last 16 months in power to promote their vision of peace for the area.
Kerry also announced he will travel to the region “soon” in an effort to calm the situation in Israel.
‘Detached’ and ‘Lacks Understanding’
Responding to Kerry’s insinuations, Israeli Member of Knesset (MK) Yoav Kish said Kerry and the Obama administration were “detached” and “lacked understanding” of the region.
“Unfortunately, it has again become evident that the Secretary of State is detached and lacks a basic understanding of the reality in our region,” stated Kish on his Facebook page, pointing to a long line of failures by the Obama administration’s foreign policy in the Middle East and the Ukraine.
“Presenting building in Israeli communities as the primary cause of [Palestinian] terror is a complete detachment from reality,” he added, wondering if the administration “is not aware of the [Palestinian] Authority’s lies in the incitement about the Temple Mount? The continued glorification of murderers and terrorists in the Palestinian media?”
Kish said Kerry was ignoring the PA’s incitement to violence “and distorts Israel’s just war on terror.”
He called on Kerry to cancel his trip to Israel. “With his worldview, it is better that he not come.”
By: Max Gelber, United with Israel