Stepping into a raging diplomatic argument, Secretary of State John Kerry on Wednesday staunchly 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 was at stake.
Kerry, pushing back on Israel’s fury at the US abstention of the United Nations vote, questioned Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu’s true commitment to Palestinian statehood, which has formed the basis for all serious peace talks for years.
Though Netanyahu says he believes in the two-State solution, Kerry said, he’s at the helm of the most right-wing (Government) in Israel’s history. “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,” Kerry said. Kerry’s speech marked the latest escalation in a vicious, drama-filled row between the US and Israel that has erupted in the last days of Obama’s administration.
The extraordinary display of discord between allies with US and Israeli officials openly disparaging each other has also pitted President Barack Obama against President-elect Donald Trump, who has firmly taken Netanyahu’s side.
Israel’s Government was enraged after the US abstained from voting on the UN Security Council resolution last week that called Israeli settlements in the West Bank and east Jerusalem a violation of international law.
Netanyahu accused the US of colluding with the Palestinians and helping draft the resolution, charges the US has denied.
“The United States did in fact vote in accordance with our values, just as previous administrations have done,” Kerry said in a farewell speech at the State Department. “The vote in the United Nations was about preserving the two-State solution. That’s what we were standing up for.” Kerry reiterated that the Obama administration’s commitment to Israel was as strong as that of previous presidents, but he also noted that previous US administrations had also abstained on certain resolutions critical of Israel.
He emphasised the record levels of military assistance the US has provided Israel under Obama, codified by a 10-year aid deal recently struck worth $38 billion.
“No American administration has done more for Israel’s security than Barack Obama’s,” Kerry said. Obama, who is vacationing with his family in Hawaii, hasn’t commented publicly on the resolution or the resulting spat.
Kerry bemoaned Israel’s “seemingly endless occupation” of Palestinian land and Palestinian leaders’ “incitement” of violence.