Goodbye Israel hater John Kerry, we won't miss you

[Dan193]

http://www.israelnationalnews.com/Articles/Article.aspx/19879
Goodbye John Kerry, we won't miss you
Kerry's speech at the Saban Forum was not the way to say goodby.
By Stephen M. Flatow,
06/12/16 20:47

John Kerry just couldn't resist.

Even though his public career is about to end--even though the Israeli-Palestinian "peace process" is long dead--even though he has absolutely nothing to gain from it--the 73 year-old Kerry just could not resist unleashing one final blast at Israel.

Kerry's disingenuous and mean-spirited attack on Israel at the Saban Forum on Sunday served as a powerful reminder of how good it is that he is about to leave office--and how dangerous for Israel it would have been if he had remained as secretary of state.

Kerry said he finds it "profoundly disturbing" that many members of the Israel cabinet think a Palestinian state isn't such a great idea. Kerry acts as if Palestinian statehood has been an enshrined part of U.S. policy since time immemorial. In fact, only two presidents have endorsed Palestinian statehood; it has been part of U.S. foreign policy for only a very brief time. Future presidents have every right to disagree with the wisdom of that proposal. And certainly Israeli cabinet members have even more of a right to question its wisdom.

Israelis are sick and tired of Kerry's hypocritical lecturing. He never says a word about the massive illegal Palestinian construction in the territories
"There will be no advance and no separate peace with the Arab world without the Palestinian process and Palestinian peace," Kerry absurdly declared. Apparently he has forgotten that Israel already has separate peace treaties with two of the four neighboring Arab states, Egypt and Jordan. Israel does not need a peace treaty with Lebanon, and Israel has nothing to gain from a peace treaty with Syria, since Syria is no longer a functioning state. So what "peace with the Arab world" is Kerry blabbering about? Does Israel really need the recognition of Morocco or Qatar?

Kerry also rambled off into a long denunciation of "the settlements" for supposedly "blocking peace." He said how bothered he was that Israel has ignored his "warnings" about settlements. Maybe one of the reasons Israel has ignored those "warnings" is that Israelis are sick and tired of Kerry's hypocritical lecturing. He never says a word about the massive illegal Palestinian construction in the territories. He acts as if it's a given that a Jew residing in Judea-Samaria or many parts of Jerusalem is illegal and illegitimate while it's perfectly fine for Arabs to build anywhere and everywhere they please.

At the Saban Forum, Kerry also launched into another tired recitation of the claim that Israel's "can't be both democratic and Jewish" unless it permits creation of a Palestinian state. This old canard has been discredited innumerable times, but Kerry just won't let go of it. "There are more Arabs than Jews living between the Mediterranean and the Jordan River," Kerry pompously asserted, as if Israelis are unaware of that questionable fact, which demographic changes are altering.

Yes, there are a lot of Arabs living in those territories. But they're not Israeli citizens. They're citizens of the Palestinian Authority. There is no threat to Israel's democratic majority, because non-citizens don't vote in Israel--just as they don't vote in the United States or any other country. The "demographic threat" is a myth.

Kerry has repeatedly demonstrated both a poor grasp of the facts and a troubling willingness to harass, threaten, and pressure Israel.

In February 2014, he warned that if Israel did not make more concessions to the Palestinians, it would face “an increasing delegitimization campaign”--a campaign that he boosted with his comment, as he surely knew he would. In April 2004, he said Israel would turn into "an apartheid state" if it did not quickly agree to a Palestinian state.

Last October, Kerry declared at Harvard University that "there's been a massive increase in settlements over the course of the last years" --a total lie, since Israel has not authorized the establishment of a single new "settlement" in Judea-Samaria since Prime Minister Yitzchak Rabin froze the creation of new communities there in 1992. Even worse, he said the mythical settlement-building causes Palestinian "frustration" which then causes Palestinian violence--thereby providing a justification for Palestinian Arabs to stab, shoot, bomb and run over Israelis.

Kerry met Palestinian Authority chairman Mahmoud Abbas in Amman last February 21. It was the height of the so-called Knife Intifada, the daily Palestinian stabbings of Israeli women and children, and incessant anti-Jewish incitement in the official PA press, radio, and television.

It could have been the moment that defined Kerry's career as secretary of state. It was his opportunity to speak the truth, to display moral fiber, to exhibit strength of character and fortitude. It was his chance to tell Abbas, in no uncertain terms, that the violence and to stop, immediately and completely, or the PA would forfeit the $500-million it receives each year from the Obama administration.

Instead, what did Kerry tell Abbas? He called for "calm and a decrease in violence, incitement and inflammatory rhetoric." That was it. "A decrease." Not an end to violence--just a decrease. Thanks a lot, Mr. Secretary.

Kerry will be remembered as a secretary of state who appeased Palestinian terrorists and tyrants, while lecturing and pressuring America's democratic ally. Goodbye, John Kerry. We won't miss you.

(Mr. Flatow, a New Jersey attorney, is vice president of the Religious Zionists of America and the father of Alisa Flatow, who was murdered by Palestinian terrorists in 1995.)

[Dan193]

Kerry trying to blackmail Israel with threats.
http://www.israelnationalnews.com/News/News.aspx/176035
Report: Kerry is Behind European Boycotts
Govt. sources reveal that Kerry is responsible for EU boycott threats, keeps them in check during talks, ready to escalate if talks fail.
By Ari Yashar,
07/01/14

[Dan193]

Ask yourself this, why does Obama and Kerry oppose a Kurdish state, but support a terrorist Palestinian state.
Obama and Kerry do this even though the Kurds are very Pro America and have been victims of mass killings by the Arabs in Halabja 1988.

Kerry met Kurdish leader Barzani in June 2014 and told him to not give up on Iraq.
Basically Kerry wants the Kurds to live under the Arab head choppers or the Ayatollah backed Shiite Government in Baghdad.

http://www.cbsnews.com/news/john-kerry-to-urge-kurds-not-to-give-up-on-iraq/
John Kerry urges Kurds not to give up on Iraq
CBS/AP
June 24, 2014

[Dan193]

http://www.washingtontimes.com/news/2016/jul/12/obama-admin-sent-taxpayer-money-oust-netanyahu
Obama admin. sent taxpayer money to campaign to oust Netanyahu
By Stephen Dinan
July 12, 2016

The State Department paid hundreds of thousands of dollars in taxpayers grants to an Israeli group that used the money to build a campaign to oust Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu in last year’s Israeli parliamentary elections, a congressional investigation concluded Tuesday.

Some $350,000 was sent to OneVoice, ostensibly to support the group’s efforts to back Israeli-Palestinian peace settlement negotiations. But OneVoice used the money to build a voter database, train activists and hire a political consulting firm with ties to President Obama’s campaign — all of which set the stage for an anti-Netanyahu campaign, the Senate Permanent Subcommittee on Investigations said in a bipartisan staff report.

In one stunning finding, the subcommittee said OneVoice even told the State Department’s top diplomat in Jerusalem of its plans in an email, but the official, Consul General Michael Ratney, claims never to have seen them.

He said he regularly deleted emails with large attachments — a striking violation of open-records laws for a department already reeling from former Secretary Hillary Clinton’s handling of official government records.

Mr. Netanyahu survived the election, and the U.S. spending was not deemed illegal because the State Department never put any conditions on the money. Investigators also said OneVoice didn’t turn explicitly political until days after the grant period ended.

“The State Department ignored warnings signs and funded a politically active group in a politically sensitive environment with inadequate safeguards,” said Sen. Rob Portman, chairman of the investigative subcommittee. “It is completely unacceptable that U.S. taxpayer dollars were used to build a political campaign infrastructure that was deployed — immediately after the grant ended — against the leader of our closest ally in the Middle East. American resources should be used to help our allies in the region, not undermine them.”
 
Sen. Claire McCaskill, the ranking Democrat on the subcommittee, said the Obama administration followed the law.
But she said their investigation exposed “deficiencies” in the State Department’s policies.

OneVoice had been politically active in Israel’s 2013 elections, which should have been a red flag to U.S. officials to put strict controls on how American taxpayers’ money was spent, the investigation said.

While it wouldn’t have necessarily disqualified the group, the State Department should have written a specific prohibition against using American money to influence a foreign election, the subcommittee said.

It’s part of a pattern of bad behavior at the State Department. The Government Accountability Office reviewed more than five dozen department grants and found officials cut corners and missed red flags in 80 percent of them.
The Israeli Embassy didn’t respond to a request for comment on the findings.

State Department spokesman John Kirby said they had not had time to go through the report and he couldn’t comment on it. He also didn’t comment on Mr. Ratney’s practice of deleting official records.

The Senate investigation found that the State Department funded two sister groups — OneVoice Israel and OneVoice Palestine — to hire a U.S. political consulting firm, recruit volunteers, build a social media network and run advertising.
But it was also building its anti-Netanyahu political strategy, at a time when the Israeli leader was quite controversial in U.S. politics, celebrated by Republicans but feuding with the Obama White House over differences in policy.

OneVoice told at least two State Department officials of its political plans, even as it was collecting taxpayer money. But the department “took no action in response,” the subcommittee concluded.

Mr. Ratney, one of the two officials, said he remembered getting an email from OneVoice, but didn’t recall seeing the attached file detailing the group’s political strategy.

The State Department was unable to recover the email, but investigators got it from OneVoice.
Mr. Ratney later told investigators he regularly deleted emails with attachments “in order to maintain my inbox under the storage limit.” He told investigators he “did not know [he] was required to archive routine emails.”