Posted on 04/11/2013 5:26:40 AM PDT by SJackson
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Kerry in Israel: Blind Alleys and Empty Words
Posted By P. David Hornik On April 10, 2013 @ 12:56 am In Daily Mailer,FrontPage | 42 Comments
Secretary of State John Kerry was in Israel on Monday and Tuesday, after a stop in Turkey. Reports indicate the usual mix of Obama-administration delusions and dubious promises.
The Jerusalem Post reported Israeli officials astonishment at statements Kerry made in Istanbul on Sunday, when he praised the Turkish governments sensitiv[ity] and lack of triumphalism in responding to Israeli prime minister Binyamin Netanyahus apology over Israels Mavi Marmara raid.
That apology was made by phone to Turkish prime minister Erdogan over two weeks ago at the tail-end of President Obamas visit to Israel. Some believe Obama pressured Netanyahu into making the call; some sources in Israel have said Israeli officialdom was itself keen on mending fences with Turkey out of a hope of renewed strategic cooperation on regional threats.
But what is clear is that Turkeys response has been less than heartwarming and tends to confirm those who stressed Erdogans ideological hostility (if not outright anti-Semitism) toward Israel. As Israeli officials reminded the Post, the Turkish press has been full of reports and interviews with Erdogan and his foreign minister Ahmet Davutoglu gloating over the apology. A day after the apology, billboards in Ankara gave a clear triumphalist message.
Erdogan has announced plans to visit Hamas in Gaza. Davutoglu hosted a dinner for relatives of Turks killed on the Mavi Marmara and members of the Al-Qaeda-linked IHH organization that sent the ship. Meanwhile Israeli-Turkish talks on supposedly renewing ties have been delayed by two weeks.
Kerry appears to respond to such developments with Orwellian inversions instead of serious stocktaking.
Once in Israel, Kerry surprised no one by pursuing the Palestinian issue, meeting with Palestinian Authority president Mahmoud Abbas and prime minister Salam Fayyad (reportedly soon to be sacked by Abbas). The UKs Telegraph reports that Kerry wanted to adopt the Arab Peace Initiative as a basis for restarting Israeli-Palestinian talks.
The Arab Peace Initiative was a plan broached by Saudi Arabia in 2002 in an effort to rehabilitate its post-9/11 image. It purports to offer Israel full diplomatic relations with Arab countries in return for withdrawing to indefensible borders and being inundated with Palestinian refugees. The Telegraph says Kerry
was said to have proposed wording that would soften the initiatives demand for Israel to withdraw to pre-1967 borders, saying they could be modified by mutual agreement, while inserting stronger security guarantees for Israel.
It also says Abbas turned him down flat, insisting on full Israeli return to the 1967 lines and the release of terrorists from Israeli prisons. No surprises there either, since Abbas has, on various pretexts, refused talks with Israel since Kerrys boss assumed office in 2009.
Yet the Telegraph goes on to say that Kerry is expected to visit Israel and the West Bank every fortnight in an effort to give momentum to efforts at renewing the peace process .
If accurate, this will be a remarkable waste of American energy and resources on something that has repeatedly proved to be a dead-end at best.
Meanwhile it turns out Defense Secretary Chuck Hagel is also coming to Israel this month. Over the past year particularly, processions of high-level U.S. officials to Israelin this case, with Hagel following Obama and Kerry, as high-level as it getshave been aimed at dissuading Israel from taking action on Irans nuclear program.
Kerry, for his part, said Tuesday morning after meeting with Netanyahu that we are open to negotiation [with Iran], but it is not an open-ended, endless negotiation . Iran cannot have and will not have a nuclear weapon.
On Sunday Israels strategic affairs minister Yuval Steinitz, who is close to Netanyahu, conveyed a considerably sharper sense of urgency, stating:
Sanctions are not enough and the talks are not enough. The time has come to place before the Iranians a military threat or a form of red line, an unequivocal red line by the entire world, by the United States and the West…in order to get results.
Steinitz, who says something should be done in a few weeks, a month if Iran doesnt stop enriching uranium, added:
We warned beforehand that the way in which these talks are being conducted is a ploy to gain time, the Iranians are talking and laughing their way to a bomb . [W]hat is currently happening in Korea serves to demonstrate…how urgent it is to stop Irans nuclear (activity).
Is the Obama administration, with all its delusions about the region, capable of seriousness about Iran? The top Israeli leaders are likely grappling right now with that question.
Kerry is a blind man stumbling around in the dark.
He hasn’t the faintest idea of what he is doing.
Just as he went to the Viet Cong in France. He had no idea what he was doing then either.
He should tell them about Christmas in Cambodia.
If youd like to be on or off, please FR mail me.
..................
In the words of the Beach Boys song...Bomb, bomb, bomb. Bomb, bomb Iran.../sarc
The Israelis know full well that Kerry can never be trusted and his appointment says volumes about Obama. Netanyahu, the secular leader and defender of the Jewish people, cannot ever accept nuclear arms in the hands of bizarre, murderous fundamentalist Iranians. His time in office is limited, so he will be forced to act soon. Biggest worry for the US is that the Navy has its big blue water ships in the narrow confines of the Persian Gulf. Those ships are in the sights of deadly sophisticated Chinese supplied shore to ship missiles. Obama has positioned the Navy to suffer a debacle worse than Pearl Harbor.
Kerry, Hagel and Obama.
God Save Israel.
Prayers for Bibi and Israel.
Kerry should have been court martialed and dishonorably discharged for his treasonous acts.
I suspect strongly that Kerry was kicked out of the Navy, and that Carter’s discharge review program was directly related to it.
The greater outrage was Jimmy Carter’s burning of Kerry’s real Navy record and replacing it with a fresher, whiter version that deleted Kerry’s LPR and his real FITREPS.
Kerry was in Israel on Monday and Tuesday, after a stop in Turkey... The Jerusalem Post reported Israeli officials' "astonishment" at statements Kerry made in Istanbul on Sunday, when he praised the Turkish government's "sensitiv[ity]" and lack of "triumphalism" in responding to Israeli prime minister... [when] what is clear is that Turkey's response has been less than heartwarming and tends to confirm those who stressed Erdogan's ideological hostility (if not outright anti-Semitism) toward Israel. As Israeli officials reminded the Post, the Turkish press has been full of reports and interviews with Erdogan and his foreign minister Ahmet Davutoglu "gloating over the apology." A day after the apology, billboards in Ankara gave a clear triumphalist message. Erdogan has announced plans to visit Hamas in Gaza. Davutoglu hosted a dinner for relatives of Turks killed on the Mavi Marmara and members of the Al-Qaeda-linked IHH organization that sent the ship. Meanwhile Israeli-Turkish talks on supposedly renewing ties have been delayed by two weeks... Kerry surprised no one by pursuing the Palestinian issue... The UK's Telegraph reports that Kerry "wanted to adopt the Arab Peace Initiative as a basis" ...a plan broached by Saudi Arabia in 2002... It purports to offer Israel full diplomatic relations with Arab countries in return for withdrawing to indefensible borders and being inundated with Palestinian "refugees." The Telegraph says Kerry was said to have proposed wording that would soften the initiative... It also says Abbas turned him down flat, insisting on full Israeli return to the 1967 lines and the release of terrorists from Israeli prisons. No surprises there either, since Abbas has, on various pretexts, refused talks with Israel since Kerry's boss assumed office in 2009... Defense Secretary Chuck Hagel is also coming to Israel this month. Over the past year particularly, processions of high-level U.S. officials to Israel -- in this case, with Hagel following Obama and Kerry, as high-level as it gets -- have been aimed at dissuading Israel from taking action on Iran's nuclear program.Time's up.
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