Kerry Caught Blaming Israel in Dubai Conference

YERUSHALAYIM
Kerry Israel
Former U.S. Secretary of State John Kerry, shown here at a talk in London on Monday. (AP Photo/Matt Dunham)

John Kerry’s warnings of dire consequences if Israeli leaders are not more forthcoming about making peace with the Palestinians did not come to an end when he finished his term as Secretary of State. Kerry has continued to criticize Israel while praising the Palestinians in comments which found their way into the media on Wednesday.

Kerry was recorded making the comments in a conference in Dubai in the past year, which was aired on Israel’s Channel 10:

“The Palestinians have done an extraordinary job of remaining committed to nonviolence. And, in fact, when the [knife] intifada took place they delivered non-violence in the West Bank,” Kerry is heard saying.

“This is overlooked by the general [Israeli] population because it is not a topic of discussion. Why? Because the majority of the cabinet currently in the current Israeli government has publicly declared they are not ever for a Palestinian state,” he asserted.

“If you don’t have leaders who don’t want to make peace, if the equation doesn’t change, I’ll be amazed if within the next 10 years if we don’t see some young [Palestinian] leader come along who says we have tried non-violence for the last 30 years, and look, it hasn’t gotten us anything,” he says.

The Prime Minister’s Office dismissed Kerry’s remarks as coming from “those who tried to prod [Israel] to make dangerous concessions and failed,” and said the blame for the impasse in peace talks belonged on the Palestinians’ “refusal to recognize Israel within any borders.”

“It is unfortunate John Kerry still doesn’t get this,” the PMO said. “Even now they are suing the British government over the Balfour Declaration.”

The conference was attended by Middle East leaders and Israel’s Joint (Arab) List chief Ayman Odeh, as well as opposition leader Isaac Herzog (Zionist Camp) according to the report.

It was not clear if Kerry was aware he was being recorded or if the segments released were his full remarks.

To Read The Full Story

Are you already a subscriber?
Click to log in!