Posted on 04/20/2004 5:41:27 PM PDT by Vision Thing
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 reiterated his support for Israel saying he had a "100 percent record of sustaining the special relationship and friendship that we have with Israel." He also pledged to end "sweetheart relationships" with Arab countries that fund terror.
According to The Jerusalem Post, at a separate fund-raising event, Kerry said he would continue the strong US-Israel relationship.
"I understand not just how we do that, but also how we end this sweetheart relationship with a bunch of Arab countries that still allow money to move to Hamas and Hizbullah and Al-Aksa Brigade," he said.
The official policy of the United States is that it does not support targeted killings, or assassinations. Such acts are universally regarded as contrary to international law.
The Kerry statement also puts the senator at odds with its major ally in the war on terror, Britain. On Monday British Prime Minister Tony Blair condemned the Rantisi assassination, a departure from usual practise where such condemnations are made by the foreign secretary, Jack Straw. Straw had already condemned the attack labelling it as "unlawful, unjustified and counterproductive." Blair, however went one step further in referring to the assassination as terrorism.
"We condemn the targeted assassination of Hamas leader Abdel-Aziz al Rantissi just as we condemn all terrorism including that perpetrated by Hamas," he told the House of Commons.
Kerry's departure from U.S. policy comes at a time when President George W. Bush is under fire for his support of the controversial withdrawal plan from Gaza, proposed by Israeli Prime Minister Ariel Sharon, a plan that Bush praised last week as "courageous" and "historic."
The Meet the Press moderator Tim Russert asked Kerry, "On Thursday, President Bush broke with the tradition and policy of six predecessors when he said that Israel can keep part of the land seized in the 1967 Middle East War and asserted the Palestinian refugees cannot go back to their particular homes. Do you support President Bush?
SEN. KERRY: Yes.
MR. RUSSERT: Completely?
SEN. KERRY: Yes.
Meantime Haaretz newspaper has reported that the Palestinians late Monday blamed the United States for emboldening Israel to assassinate Rantisi by vetoing a United Nations Security Council resolution condemning last month's "extrajudicial execution" of Sheikh Yassein, during a Security Council emergency meeting to discuss Rantisi's assassination.
But Israel countered that it has been forced to take "defensive actions," including killing Rantisi, because the Palestinians refuse to meet their international obligation to arrest terrorists and get rid of terrorist groups like Hamas.
The exchange, reported Haaretz, took place at the start of the meeting, sought by the Arab League to address escalating Israeli military attacks and Rantisi's murder in an Israeli missile strike on Saturday. More than 40 countries spoke, and virtually all but the U.S. condemned Israel - including close U.S. ally Britain.
Algeria's UN Ambassador Abdallah Baali, the only Arab member on the council, introduced a draft resolution at the end of the meeting that demands an end to Israel's "extrajudicial executions," a halt to "all acts of violence including all acts of terrorism," and adherence to international humanitarian law.
"In the Palestinian territory, in the Arab nation and in the Muslim world, emotions are high and distress and frustration are deep," Baali warned. "If no action is taken, and Israel gets away again with these horrendous crimes, the situation might very rapidly deteriorate and go ultimately out of control."
The U.S. used its veto power on March 25 to quash a resolution condemning Israel for killing Sheik Ahmed Yassin, the Hamas founder and spiritual leader. U.S. diplomats said the measure failed to mention the militant group's record of bombings and shooting attacks during 3 1/2 years of Israeli-Palestinian violence.
The draft resolution circulated Monday also makes no mention of Hamas, and U.S. deputy ambassador James Cunningham said it would likely face another U.S. veto. Council experts were expected to discuss the text on Tuesday.
Nasser Al-Kidwa, the Palestinian UN observer, said Security Council action to promote peace and prevent further bloodshed is long overdue.
He blamed the council for allowing Israel "to continue acting beyond the parameters of international law, permitting it to use the most oppressive measures and practices to impose more death and destruction and loss on the Palestinian people under its occupation."
"It is without a doubt that the recent failure of the Security Council to condemn the extrajudicial execution of Sheikh Yassin and to take urgent measures to address the deterioration of the situation, due to the veto cast by one of the council's permanent members, has further emboldened the Israeli government to continue carrying out such illegal actions with impunity," Al-Kidwa said.
But Israel's UN Ambassador Dan Gillerman said the focus of the council should be the "acts of terror" perpetrated by Hamas which has called for the destruction of Israel, "not the acts of self-defense necessary to prevent them."
"Were the current Palestinian leadership a genuine partner in peace, defensive actions such as the one Israel was recently compelled to undertake would not have been necessary," he said. "If there is something 'extrajudicial' here it is the total refusal of the Palestinian leadership - for years - to act against terrorism."
Al-Kidwa accused Prime Minister Ariel Sharon of departing from the so-called road map peace plan endorsed by the U.S., the UN, the European Union and Russia with his unilateral plan to withdraw from Gaza and parts of the West Bank.
But Gillerman insisted that Sharon's plan can "rekindle the peace process" and facilitate the road map's goal of two states, Israel and Palestine, living side by side in peace.
Cunningham said the focus now should be on advancing the road map, through Israel's withdrawal from Gaza, "and actions by either party that move us away from this goal are not helpful."
He said Israel has the right to defend itself from terrorist attacks, demanded that Palestinian leaders "act decisively against terror," and urged all parties "to exercise maximum restraint," said the Haaretz report.
Actually, this is the flip/flop.
ElQeri has bush envy and wants to be the first K of the KKK ... Kerry/Klinton/Klinton.
Remember ... the RATS, when cornered, always come out like a conservative and the Susan Estreche's (sp?) of the fold come out night after night and swear he's always been this way, but those (you) mean spirited Republicans ... yada yada yada.
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