Kerry defends US over Israel as Trump ramps up hostilities
● US Secretary of State warns Israel’s future as democracy at stake
US Secretary of State John Kerry has defended the Obama administration’s decision to allow the UN Security Council to declare Israeli settlements illegal – and warned that Israel’s very future as a democracy is at stake.
Mr Kerry, responding to Israel’s fury over the US abstention of the UN vote, questioned Israeli prime minister Benjamin Netanyahu’s true commitment to Palestinian statehood, which has formed the basis for all serious peace talks for years. Though Mr Netanyahu said he believes in the twostate solution, Mr Kerry said that under his leadership, Israel’s government is “the most right-wing in Israel’s history”.
Mr Kerry said in a farewell speech: “If the choice is one state, Israel can either be Jewish or democratic, it cannot be both – and it won’t ever really be at peace.”
The speech is a comprehensive airing of grievances that have built up in the Obama administration over eight years but were rarely, until this month, discussed publicly.
It marks the latest escalation in a vicious row between the US and Isra- el which has erupted in the last days of Barack Obama’s administration.
The extraordinary display of discord between allies – with US and Israeli officials openly disparaging each other – has also pitted Obama against president-elect Donald Trump, who has firmly taken the side of Mr Netanyahu.
Trump accused Obama yesterday of throwing up “inflammatory” roadblocks during the transition of power and his administration of treating Israel with “total disdain”. Trump also took direct issue with the Obama administration’s decision to let a UN Security Council resolution critical of Israel pass.
“We cannot continue to let Israel be treated with such total disdain and disrespect,” he said in a two-part tweet. “They used to have a great friend in the US, but not anymore. The beginning of the end was the horrible Iran deal, and now this (UN)! Stay strong Israel, January 20th is fast approaching!”