Obama & Kerry's Betrayal of Israel is Complete

Secretary of State John Kerry told the House of Representatives today that it would be a “mistake” to insist–as Israel has done–that the Palestinians recognize Israel as a Jewish state. Not only was his statement a total appeasement of Palestinian rejectionism, but it was also a complete betrayal of promises made to Israel.

I’m reprinting these quotes from my article at Big Peace because they are just so staggering (my emphasis).

In December 2013, on a visit to Israel, Secretary Kerry promised that he and President Obama were committed to pursuing recognition of Israel as a “Jewish state” in a final agreement with the Palestinian Authority:

And I join with President Obama in expressing to the people of Israel our deep, deep commitment to the security of Israel and to the need to find a peace that recognizes Israel as a Jewish state, recognizes Israel as a country that can defend itself by itself, and that is an important principle with which the prime minister and the President and I are in agreement.

In March 2013, during a joint press conference with Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu in Jerusalem, President Obama committed to pursuing a “Jewish state” as part of a peace agreement with Palestinians:

We also discussed the way forward to a two-state solution between Israelis and Palestinians. And I very much welcomed Bibi’s words before I spoke. I’ll be meeting with President Abbas tomorrow, and I will have more to say on this topic in the speech that I deliver to the Israeli people tomorrow. But for now, let me just reiterate that a central element of a lasting peace must be a strong and secure Jewish state, where Israel’s security concerns are met, alongside a sovereign and independent Palestinian state.

U.S. recognition of Israel as a Jewish state means nothing if the U.S. does not insist that Palestinians do the same, and allows them to continue to attack Israel’s legitimacy. A Palestinian official recently said that Allah would gather Israelis so that Palestinians could kill them. The Obama administration tolerates that attitude.

Beyond the president’s repeated violations of its own “red lines,” on Syria and the Ukraine and elsewhere, there are also his repeated violations of his own (and America’s) positive commitments to allies–not just Israel, but notably Poland and the Czech Republic, among others. No wonder Israelis do not trust them.