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John Kerry invoked his Vietnam War service to push back against an Israeli cabinet member who criticized his recent comments on the Israeli-Palestinian peace process. During a security conference in Munich last weekend, Kerry suggested that if his Israeli-Palestinian peace effort fails, there could be serious consequences for Israel.

The Democratic presidential nominee, Senator John Kerry, has defied U.S. policy and openly endorsed Israel's assassination policy. Asked on NBC's Meet the Press about Israel's assassination of Hamas leader Abdel Aziz Rantisi, Kerry said, "I believe Israel has every right in the world to respond to any act of terror against it. Hamas is a terrorist, brutal organization. It has had years to make up its mind to take part in a peaceful process. They refuse to. Arafat refuses to. And I support Israel's efforts to try to separate itself and to try to be secure." On Monday the senator...

Prime Minister Binyamin Netanyahu plans to announce extended Jewish construction in Judea and Samaria next week, Channel 2 News reported on Wednesday. The announcement is expected to come parallel to the release of another 26 terrorists as a “gesture” to the Palestinian Authority (PA). With the planned announcement, Netanyahu has essentially rejected a request by the United States, which had asked him to hold off on new construction announcements so as not to hurt the ongoing peace talks with the PA. Previous announcements on construction raised the ire of the PA, which demanded that Israel cancel any tenders it has...

Analysis: Military sources say Pentagon's assessment of Shujaiya shelling alarmed even Secretary of State John Kerry August 27, 2014 4:00AM ET by Mark Perry @markperrydc The cease-fire announced Tuesday between Israel and Palestinian factions — if it holds — will end seven weeks of fighting that killed more than 2,200 Gazans and some 69 Israelis. But as the rival camps seek to put their spin on the outcome, one assessment of Israel’s Gaza operation that won’t be publicized is that of the U.S. military. Still, even though the Pentagon shies away from publicly expressing judgments that might fall afoul of...

In a notably critical interview, Michael Oren emphasizes that Israel would prefer Egyptian, not American, mediation Michael Oren, who until recently served as Israel’s ambassador in Washington, said US envoy John Kerry was coming to the region “to our chagrin.” US Secretary of State John Kerry is expected in Cairo Monday for discussions surrounding a ceasefire between Israel and Hamas. The White House said Kerry would seek “an immediate cessation of hostilities based on a return to the November 2012 ceasefire agreement,” and stressed the need to protect civilian life both “in Gaza and in Israel.” In strikingly outspoken comments...

Secretary of State John Kerry was caught on an open mic just before his interview with “Fox News Sunday” candidly speaking about the conflict in Gaza. “It’s a hell of a pinpoint operation, it’s a hell of a pinpoint operation,” Kerry said to an aide on the phone, with some measure of frustration. His comments seemed to be criticizing the Israeli government’s assurances about the limited scope of its attack and ground invasion of Gaza. Kerry, speaking by phone to one of his top aides, then added: “We’ve got to get over there. Thank you John. I think John, we...

US Secretary of State John Kerry has been adamant to EU officials not to push the Palestinian Authority (PA)’s anti-Israel resolution through the UN until after the March 2015 elections, a European diplomat told Foreign Policy Friday. “Kerry has been very, very clear that for the United States it was not an option to discuss whatever text before the end of the Israeli election,” the diplomat stated. Kerry said that the warning stems from a meeting he had with former President Shimon Peres and Hatnua Chairman Tzipi Livni, who appealed to him out of concerns that the anti-Israel resolution—if passed...

Walking U.N. Perhaps Sen. John Kerry does have an advantage after all over President Bush in understanding the complex political issues of the Middle East. New research by Burke's Peerage reveals that Mr. Kerry is the only presidential candidate in U.S. history who has genealogical descent from Muslims, Jews and Christians. "Senator Kerry ... is a virtual walking United Nations," says Harold Brooks-Baker, publishing director of Burke's. Mr. Kerry is kinsman of the Shi'ite shahs of Persia (the most famous was Shah Abbas I, who reigned from 1587 to 1629), as well as the Muslim kings of Tunisia, all of...

Terrible findings in the torture report "are not who we are," John Kerry claims. Well, here's a U.S. history lesson. It’s comforting for those whose actions are not aligned with their stated values to believe that what one does in real life is not what ultimately defines who one really is. It’s nice to think who we are is determined not by the things we did the day before, but by the stated ideals we hope to aspire to fulfill, starting tomorrow. In a nation-state founded by settler-colonial Protestants, the argument is familiar – it’s what’s deep down inside that...

The Palestinian Authority (PA) announced on Sunday that the draft resolution to the United Nations Security Council that would set a two-year deadline for Israel to “end its occupation” will be submitted on Wednesday. "The Palestinian leadership took a decision to go to the Security Council next Wednesday to vote on their project to end the occupation," senior Palestine Liberation Organization (PLO) member Wassel Abu Yussef told AFP after a meeting in Ramallah. The Israeli foreign ministry declined to comment ahead of Monday's meeting in Rome between Israeli Prime Minister Binyamin Netanyahu and U.S. Secretary of State John Kerry. Kerry...

Prime Minister Binyamin Netanyahu addressed US Secretary of State John Kerry’s upcoming talks in Rome on Sunday, during opening remarks for his weekly Cabinet meeting. “Tomorrow I will leave for Rome to meet with Italian Prime Minister Matteo Renzi and US Secretary of State John Kerry,” he said. “I will tell them that Israel, to a large degree, stands as a solitary island against the waves of Islamic extremism that are washing over the entire Middle East.” “Until now, we have successfully withstood and repelled these attacks and now we also stand against the possibility of a diplomatic assault, i.e....

TEL AVIV – The Palestinian Authority received a pledge from the U.S. that by the end of 2014, the Obama administration will issue an official written declaration presenting general highlights of a future Palestinian state, a senior Palestinian negotiator told WND. The negotiator further said the goal is to have the general framework for a deal ironed out by April. The current framework for an Israeli-Palestinian agreement being brokered by Secretary of State John Kerry calls for the phased implementation of more Palestinian sovereignty within three to five years, the negotiator said. As part of the written declaration, the U.S....

Secretary of State John Kerry on Tuesday asked lawmakers debating legislation to authorize the war against the so-called Islamic State not to rule out the use of U.S. ground troops in combat. “The president has been clear that his policy is that U.S. military forces will not be deployed to conduct ground combat operations,” Kerry began. “However,” he added, "while we certainly believe this is the soundest policy, and while the president has been clear he's open to clarifications on the use of U.S. combat troops to be outlined in an AUMF, that does not mean we should preemptively bind...

Secretary of State John Kerry says a new congressional authorization for U.S. military operations against the Islamic State should not be limited to Iraq and Syria and should not bind President Barack Obama from ever deploying ground troops against the group if necessary. […] Obama is using congressional authorizations that former President George W. Bush relied on after 9/11—ones that critics say are a legal stretch at best. …

What if Barak Obama fired the wrong guy? What if he meant to dump John Kerry, but because of a teleprompter breakdown fired Chuck Hagel instead? Stuff happens, you know. And to a lot of people around Obama, the two men resembled one another -- friends of Obama, decorated Vietnam war veterans, former U.S. senators, well-educated white guys, and so on. So the confusion is understandable. I mean it was Secretary of State John Kerry in Vienna who deserved

The ISIS in Kobani is facing severe damage and losses. The Syrian Kurdish town of Kobani has become the theatre of war between the Islamic State radicals, Kurds and the U.S. led allies who are pounding the town with air strikes to retrieve the town. According to a U.K. based monitoring group, the Islamic State fighters have faced severe reverses including hundreds of deaths and injury at the Kobani town, bordering Turkey. Highlighting the rising toll of ISIS cadres, Britain-based Syrian Observatory for Human Rights reported that at least 50 militants had been killed in the last couple of days...

Kerry forgot to mention Israel as an essential stake holder in a Middle East peace plan. Of course it was just a slip. It had to be, right? U.S. Secretary of State John Kerry and the new European Union’s High Representative Federica Mogherini spoke together to the international press following their “working lunch” in Brussels on Wednesday, Dec. 3. First Mogherini mentioned some of the topics she and Kerry had just discussed, such as the Transatlantic Trade Investment Partnership, Russian activity in Ukraine, the situation in Syria and Iraq, and the fight against ISIS – she referred to it by...

Sen. John McCain is blocking the confirmation of President Barack Obama’s nominee to be America’s second-highest ranked diplomat. McCain says Tony Blinken, Obama’s deputy national security adviser, is “totally unqualified” to serve as Secretary of State John Kerry’s understudy. …

US Secretary of State John Kerry on Tuesday responded to Prime Minister Binyamin Netanyahu's decision to disband the Knesset. Kerry said that whatever government will be formed, he hoped it would be able to "negotiate and move towards resolving differences between Israelis and Palestinians." In April, Kerry's push for peace talks were torpedoed right ahead of their nine-month deadline by the Palestinian Authority (PA), which formed a unity agreement with Hamas after breaching the Oslo Accords by making unilateral moves to join international conventions. The PA has been inciting and praising the recent spree of high-profile terror attacks concentrated in...

President Obama’s most recent capitulation in sham “negotiations” over Iran’s nuclear program is his agreement to a seven-month delay in the deadline for a final settlement, which was to have been this past Monday. As the president must know, this delay gives the revolutionary jihadist regime everything it needs: time; further preservation and legitimization of its nuclear program; continued sanctions relief, including $700 million per month from the United States; and no pressure to acknowledge, much less repudiate, its status as the world’s leading state sponsor of terrorism (i.e., the reason why its acquisition of nuclear weapons is — or...