Monday, Deputy National Security Adviser Tony Blinken said, “Israel has no better friend, no stronger defender” than Secretary of State John Kerry and added that, “No one has done more” for the Palestine-Israel peace process.

Blinken said leaked reports in The Times of Israel accused Kerry of favoring Hamas in his proposed cease-fire deal that Israel rejected were “I think was misinformed, or an effort to misinform.”

Last week Kerry was caught on an open mic sarcastically criticizing the Israeli government by saying, “It’s a hell of a pinpoint operation, it’s a hell of a pinpoint operation.”

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