The American Israel Public Affairs Committee called Secretary of State John Kerry’s speech on the Israeli-Palestinian conflict Wednesday “a failed attempt to defend the indefensible.”
In a statement released Wednesday afternoon, AIPAC asked Congress to renounce the Obama administration’s decision to not veto a United Nations resolution condemning the Israeli settlements in East Jerusalem and the West Bank. The group said Kerry glossed over how unfair the U.N. resolution was when speaking Wednesday in Foggy Bottom.
“Secretary of State John Kerry’s speech today was a failed attempt to defend the indefensible,” the statement read. “Contrary to Secretary of State Kerry’s address today, the United Nations Security Council (UNSC) resolution that the administration unconscionably failed to block was unfair, unbalanced and represented a profound departure from the policies of previous Democratic and Republican administrations for nearly the past forty years.”
“Secretary Kerry placed overwhelming, disproportionate blame for the failure to advance peace on our ally, Israel, while neglecting numerous Israeli peace offers and Palestinian refusal to resume direct talks.”
The group added its collective voice to the chorus of Israel supporters slamming Kerry’s speech, a 70-minute discussion of the history of Israeli-Palestinian relations and what’s gone wrong in the peace process.
Even if the speech had put across a positive agenda, the refusal to veto the resolution in the U.N. spoke louder than Kerry’s words, according to AIPAC.
“By abstaining, and thereby allowing the resolution to pass, the outgoing administration not only betrayed a democratic ally and abandoned a forty-year understanding,” the group stated, “but it also made the goal of peace more elusive by undermining direct talks, reinterpreting U.N. Security Council Resolution 242, and providing the recalcitrant Palestinian leadership with further incentive not to compromise or negotiate.”
The blame for a lack of progress in the peace process lies with Palestinian authorities, not Israel, according to AIPAC.
“Over the past eight years, Israel has repeatedly tried to advance the negotiations process, including the imposition of a settlement freeze and the release of convicted Palestinian terrorists — a step that was deeply difficult for the Israeli people. In response, the Palestinians made no significant gesture to advance the cause of peace,” the statement read. “Yet, the intransigence of the Palestinian leadership is now being rewarded by the administration and others through destructive resolutions and counterproductive attempts to internationalize the conflict.”
