Kerry's Backhanded Threats

Michael L.

{Cross-posted at Geoffff's Joint, Bar and Grill.}

The piece below was written by Arlene from Israel:

November 8, 2013: HE'S CROSSED THE LINE!

I'm talking about John Kerry, and actually, he's crossed it twice.

I had no time to write today, with Levy Report work and a very early Shabbat. But I must write, ever so briefly, because people must know about this.

Yesterday, Kerry, who is here, gave a TV interview. And this is what he said (emphasis added):

"The alternative to getting back to the talks is the potential of chaos. Does Israel want a third intifada?"

http://www.israelnationalnews.com/News/Flash.aspx/280009

I repeat: Does Israel want a third intifada?

This is a form of intimidation and blackmail: Israel, make additional concessions to the PA, or face the consequences of violence.

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Not an acceptable way to talk to Israel. Either we make concessions because it's good for us in terms of a deal to be struck, or we shouldn't make concessions.

Violence? We'll have to brace for it if it comes, cope with it. Make a lot of arrests, send out a lot of police and troops, and, who knows? maybe take aim at the heads of a few of the perpetrators of violence that threatens innocent Jewish life, so that people get the message not to fool with us. (I speak for myself and not officially, of course.)

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But folks, this is not the worst of what Kerry did. The interview was with Udi Segal, of Israel's channel 2 and also with Maher Shalabi, of Palestinian TV.

And so, what Kerry is also guilty of, besides intimidation and blackmail, is incitement. He was speaking to a Palestinian Arab audience as well. And he was giving the nod to their being violent if they are not happy with the Israeli stance.

This is the chief diplomatic officer of the United States of America? This is the despicable low to which the US has fallen?

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The urgency in writing has to do with my sense that Americans who love Israel -- and I know you are legion! -- need to know what Kerry did. You are likely to be outraged along with me,

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Please! translate that outrage into action. Do not sit still for a secretary of state who speaks to Israel thus. To protest to the White House or State Department is pointless.

Contact your representatives of Congress. Protest this in the strongest terms. DEMAND that intimidation of Israel stop. Call for the firing of Kerry. He doesn't qualify as dog catcher of Washington DC.

For your Congresspersons:

http://www.house.gov/representatives/find/

For your Senator:

http://www.senate.gov/general/contact_information/senators_cfm.cfm

And, please, share this posting absolutely as broadly as you can, encouraging others to also protest Kerry's behavior.

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On the flip side of this vile behavior, we can see encouraging news. Kerry is desperate or he wouldn't be speaking this way. Pay no attention to his babble about how much progress has been made in just days. He is not getting from Israel the concessions he is seeking.

What is more, he has now thoroughly and completely discredited himself with the Israeli government, which had no official comment. I don't know this from official sources but understand it intuitively. He is less likely now, not more likely, to have the leverage to convince our government of anything. One unnamed Israeli official called this, from Kerry, "a worrying and dangerous precedent."

I would say that, should Arab violence increase in the wake of this interview, any Jewish blood that is spilled would be on Kerry's hands.

Let us stay strong, and hold fast to our rights.

Much more - in particular on Iran - coming soon.

Shabbat Shalom.

I do not know that Kerry was intentionally trying to threaten Israel with a third terror war if it refuses to capitulate to Palestinian-Arab demands, but the effect is that of a threat.  He is essentially telling the local Arabs that they have every right to commit violence against Jews if the Jews refuse to submit to their marching orders.

The Palestinian Authority glorifies violence against Jews and among people like Kerry (not to mention Obama or, say, Peter Beinart) that violence is justified because they see Israel as a "colonial-settler oppressor state" or some such propagandistic formulation.  They would never say that they think that violence toward Jews is justified, nor do I suppose that they would even think it, but that's entirely irrelevant.  By articulating what amounts to the "Palestinian narrative" of never-ending Jewish guilt and general Palestinian-Arab innocence they give the local Arabs every reason to believe that they are right to seek the murder of the Jewish people around them.  If this were not the case they might consider strongly objecting to genocidal Arab incitement toward Jews, but they do not.

One of the biggest mistakes that we have made within the diaspora Jewish community, if not the Jewish community more generally, has been in incorporating the "Palestinian narrative" into our way of thinking on the conflict and it is for that reason that so many diaspora Jews oppose "settlement activity."  Yet, by opposing Jews who build housing for themselves in Judaea and Samaria we essentially capitulate to the idea that the Jewish minority in that part of the world deserve whatever beatings the Arabs wish to dish out.

Some would argue that we must oppose the settlements because Israel can be a democratic state or a Jewish state, but not both if it annexes Judaea and Samaria.  Thankfully, I am not calling for any such annexation.  The point is that we should not reward Arab racism toward Jews by agreeing with Mahmoud Abbas that any future state of "Palestine" must be Judenrein.

Palestinian-Arab culture is toxic to everyone in the region, including the Palestinian-Arabs themselves, because it is drowning in resentment and hatred and violence and that resentment, hatred, and violence is stoked by Mahmoud Abbas and the Palestinian Authority, not to mention Hamas.

They are raising up yet another generation of Arabs who are taught that Jews are evil and that even the Devil, himself, is Jewish.

There are those who would argue that the Jewish people in Israel have oppressed the local Arabs which is why they are hate-filled toward Jews.  This is false because it confuses cause with effect.  The check-points and restrictions that sometimes apply to local Arabs are not the source of their hatred, but a response to their hatred and it is a very old hatred, indeed.

Fourteen centuries of theologically-based loathing of Jews is the central core of the problem.  Until the Arab majority moves beyond their medieval prejudices, the conflict will continue and increasingly toward their own detriment.

By the way, I would very much recommend Jonathan Tobin's recent discussion of the matter at Commentary entitled, Kerry Tips the Scales Against Israel.

As he writes:

Even before his latest intervention, there was a good chance the Palestinians would use the eventual collapse of these talks as an excuse for more violence. But now they more or less have Kerry’s seal of approval for such behavior. While American diplomats have made some terrible mistakes in the last 20 years in pursuit of Middle East peace, it’s hard to recall a precedent for this sort of incompetence.

I could hardly agree more.