Posted on 12/28/2016 11:32:34 AM PST by MaxistheBest
n about two hours, John Kerry will deliver a speech at the State Department to outline the Obama administration’s plan for a peace settlement between the Israelis and Palestinians. Needless to say, the Israelis aren’t happy about it, Republicans are furious about it — and even some Democrats want Kerry and the White House to shut up. Rep. Steny Hoyer, the House Democratic whip, lashed out at Kerry and the Obama administration for reversing decades of American policy on peace negotiations:
Rep. Steny Hoyer (D-Md.), the Democratic whip in the House of Representatives and the second- highest ranking Democrat in leadership, released a blistering statement Tuesday night calling on the Obama administration to cool it.
“Now, it is my understanding that Secretary Kerry, in the last few days of this Administration, intends to outline the parameters of an agreement between Israel and the Palestinian Authority. This flies in the face of the United States’s longstanding position that such a formulation should be reached only through negotiations by the parties and not by the United States, the United Nations, or any other third party,” Hoyer said.
“I urge Secretary Kerry and the Administration not to set forth a formula, which will inevitably disadvantage Israel in any negotiation,” Hoyer added.
Israeli Cabinet official Gilad Erdan mocked Kerry’s move as both “pathetic” and “un-democratic”:
“This step is a pathetic step. It is an anti-democratic step because it’s clear that the administration and Kerry’s intention is to chain President-elect Trump,” Erdan told Israel Army Radio.
Erdan, a member of Netanyahu’s Likud Party and inner Security Cabinet, said Obama administration officials are “pro-Palestinian” and “don’t understand what’s happening in the Middle East.” In the meantime, though, Benjamin Netanyahu asked Jerusalem’s planning committee to hold off on approvals for building permits in East Jerusalem until after Kerry speaks:
With applications for 492 building permits in the urban settlements of Ramot and Ramat Shlomo on its agenda, members of Jerusalem city hall’s Planning and Building committee said a planned vote was cancelled at Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu’s request.
The panel’s chairman, Meir Turgeman, said at the session that Netanyahu was concerned approval would have given Kerry “ammunition before the speech”. …
“The prime minister said that while he supports construction in Jerusalem, we don’t have to inflame the situation any further,” Hanan Rubin, a member of the Jerusalem municipal committee told Reuters, citing Kerry’s upcoming speech.
The panel meets regularly and the building projects could come up for a vote at a future session. Barack Obama came into office fumbling on the issue of settlements, and it looks like he’s determined to go out in the same manner. His unilateral demand to a halt in settlement building gave the Palestinians yet another excuse to demand concessions ahead of negotiations, which made it even more difficult for negotiations to even begin. Rather than recognize his error, Obama has spent the last eight years doubling down on it, going as far as to assert that Israel would have to return to its pre-1967 borders in any settlement — another statement that gave Mahmoud Abbas a concession ahead of the talks.
In this case, though, Kerry’s attempt to force Israel into Obama’s peace plan will be as pathetic as Erdan notes. The Obama team has spent all of its political capital in Israel after trying to rig their March 2015 election and then stabbing Israel in the back this month at the UN. Donald Trump will eclipse the Obama policies with those more supportive of Israel. The likeliest direct outcome of Kerry’s speech won’t be a new round of peace talks, but the shift of the US embassy to Jerusalem and the end of any pressure at all to stop settlement expansion. Beyond that, Kerry and Obama may have given Republicans the opening that they have long desired to reduce ties to the UN and focus on direct, bilateral diplomacy.
Don’t expect Kerry to take Hoyer’s advice, but also don’t expect anyone to really take Kerry and Obama seriously from now on either.
Update: It looks like Russia’s not happy about this either, according to Ha’aretz:
Russian Foreign Minister Sergey Lavrov rejected U.S. Secretary of State John Kerry’s proposal that the Quartet – the United States, Russia, the UN and the European Union – adopt the principles he will present in his speech on the Israeli-Palestinian in Washington on Wednesday afternoon. …
“Lavrov warned against the impact of the U.S. domestic agenda on the Middle East Quartet and the UN Security Council,” the ministry stated. “He spotlighted harmful attempts to use these platforms for the Democrats’ and Republicans’ bickering.”
Lavrov’s statement echoed some of the fears that have been voiced in recent days by the Prime Minister’s Office in Jerusalem that the Obama administration would likely make additional attempts to advance international steps on the Palestinian issue before Donald Trump becomes president on January 20. Jeff Dunetz notes the strange-bedfellows aspect of this development:
It is a bit strange that Russia is protecting the Jewish State from anti-Israel actions by the American president and secretary of state.
The Russian foreign minister’s statement echoed the fears raised at Lidblog yesterday that Obama/Kerry will make additional attempts to cut Israel’s negotiating position and/or impose an unfavorable solution on the Jewish State before Donald Trump becomes president on January 20. …
I hope Trump now stops trying to be the gentleman in the room just long enough to take this crowd down once and for all so the American people can see what the past 8 years have been about.
Obama is going out just the way he came in ....clueless and vindictive and Team Kerry and Obama are being shown to be in bed with the Palestinians and by none other than Putin. After Trump tears up his illegal EA's and cleans up this foreign affairs mess, his legacy and that of Monsieur Kerry, will be dog shit.
Rep. Steny Hoyer (D-Md.), the Democratic whip in the House of Representatives and the second- highest ranking Democrat in leadership, released a blistering statement Tuesday night calling on the Obama administration to cool it.
I wonder what Juan McLame and Linda ‘pink panties’ have to say about this??? Wonder if Hoyer passed this through them two before opening his mouth...I am surprised at his remarks...
Norway called.
They want their Peace Prize back.................
The Russians recognize a rabid dog (Obama) and the need to put it down for the sake of world peace. So much for Obama's Nobel peace prize, it really should be taken away and given to Trump.
After some of the people that have been given the Nobel Prize, Barky included, I think President Trump is way to gracious to accept such trash...
I can’t thank Lurch enough. The timing couldn’t be better for the dhimmicrats to draw a sharp line of distinction regarding support for the Israelis. All these years they’ve been mouthing the words but we’ve all known how insincere they were. Now it is crystal clear - they don’t like Israel, they don’t support Israel, and they’re willing to play games with Israel’s security in order to advance their pro-muzzie agenda.
This will not sit well with the American people.
“I am surprised at his remarks..”
Don’t be...a lot of this is about fundraising...the Dems and the Jewish lobby have been doing a dance for decades...this blows it all out of the water and the Democrats are scared.
This is only going to get worse for Team Obama and given the Trump landslide and the truth coming in the mail (larger bills, larger deductibles) from ObamaCare...the truth coming out on the Iran deal and now this cluster**ck!!
Steve Bannon said if they delivered on most of their policy agenda, they could hold power for 50 years...he never expected to have so much help from Obama.
These guys are activists clowns working for Soros.
This whole mess really seemed like a head scratcher.
The only thing I can figure out is that the Democrat party not only has decided that they do not need the blue collar vote but they no longer want the Jewish vote either.
I am not inclined to tell Kerry/Obama to shut up at this point.
Trump doesn’t deserve the prize either. At some point in the future he might, but not right now.
We shouldn’t be surprised. Obama said at the beginning said he would always side with Islam.
President Trump probably doesn’t mind not being in the same company as Yasser Arafat and Obozo.
I wonder how much of this ‘smoke screen’ F’ing Kerry is doing because his daughter is married to an Iranian???
the D party bosses (those at least that have taken over the D party in the least 9 or 10 years, like SorosNazi) have written off most of the American voters ....
whether they will ever be able to stitch together another winning coalition (perhaps with black + illegal + IslamoNazi + deceased voters?)
remains to be seen. Most Christian, Jewish, and working “class” (how I hate that term!) people will never again vote D.
Obama and his crew keep throwing dirt in the grave of the Democratic party.
And then there are the ones who openly endorse this.
Kerry is just a stupid rube.
A self serving ass.
A useful idiot.
And yet stupid doesn't adequately describe him.
But Obama is pure evil. Has been from day one.
Go away Barry, you're finished....whether you believe in the U.S. Constitution or not, there are remedies for what you are doing to your nation.
Those [two descriptions] are at odds with each other, and I would argue that the second one is correct. Obama knows exactly what he is doing as the enemy of Israel who is indeed in bed with the Palestinians. Let's not assume that Obama and Kerry and their united friends in Europe desire the same outcome that we want. Their dream is the ancient evil dream, the destruction of Israel. Only America stands with Israel, and last week's betrayal at the UN has placed her in even greater danger. Parabellum.
NONE.
Kerry is just a self serving idiot.
A f***ing moron.
The fact that he has a daughter married to an Iranian is just a byproduct.
OMG...that Lizard tongue coming out every 7 seconds was DISGUSTING!!!
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