Netanyahu, Coalition Partners Slam Kerry Speech
Prime Minister Binyamin Netanyahu said that Secretary of State John Kerry’s condemnation of terrorism Wednesday was “nothing more than lip service,” while other senior coalition members also reacted quickly Kerry’s speech in Washington about the Israel-Palestinian peace process.
“This is all the foreign minister of the greatest superpower in the world, the United States, could talk about, in a speech summing up [his term in office], for an entire hour?” Netanyahu asked cynically. “The Middle East is going up in flames, entire countries are collapsing, terrorism is out of control 0- and for an hour the Secretary of State attacks the only democracy in the Middle East? The one stable country in the Middle East… for Jews and Arabs alike and also contributes to regional security and stability and for several of our neighboring countries.
“Perhaps Secretary of State Kerry hasn’t notice but Israel is the only place in the Middle East that Christians can celebrate Christmas safely…I’m sorry to say that all the Secretary of State is interested in drawing morally corrupt comparisons between building a house in the outer-lying suburbs of Jerusalem to terror attacks that strike at innocent people,” Netanyahu fumed.
Education Minister Naftali Bennett said the speech was “divorced from reality” – filled with good intentions but unrealisticc.
“Secretary Kerry’s speech was like his policy – with good intention, but divorced from reality.
This policy has left the Middle East in flames; a Syrian genocide, Iran racing towards a nuclear bomb, and abandoning of the only free democracy in the Middle East, Israel.
“There already is a Palestinian state in Gaza and it turned into a terror state. We’re not prepared to allow a second terror state in the heart of Israel,” Bennett said.
Deputy Foreign Minister Tzipi Hotovely called the Kerry principles “impossible.” “We have 25 years of experience with similar ‘outlines for peace,’ but instead of peace they gave rise to the terrorism threat. At the end of the day, no speech or unilateral move at the United Nations will lead to an agreement.
“The Jewish People will not withdraw from our land in order to create a terror state,” Hotovely said.