Posted on 07/21/2014 1:47:33 PM PDT by Dave346
In a notably critical interview, Michael Oren emphasizes that Israel would prefer Egyptian, not American, mediation
Michael Oren, who until recently served as Israel’s ambassador in Washington, said US envoy John Kerry was coming to the region “to our chagrin.”
US Secretary of State John Kerry is expected in Cairo Monday for discussions surrounding a ceasefire between Israel and Hamas.
The White House said Kerry would seek “an immediate cessation of hostilities based on a return to the November 2012 ceasefire agreement,” and stressed the need to protect civilian life both “in Gaza and in Israel.”
In strikingly outspoken comments to Channel 2 on Monday afternoon, Oren cited Kerry’s “long history” of unsuccessful diplomacy in the region, the Obama administration’s strained relations with Egypt, and the “tension” in ties between the Obama administration and Israel.
He said Kerry and the Obama administration have close ties with Qatar and Turkey, “who are not on the best terms with Egypt right now.”
Oren emphasized that Kerry, who made things worse with a live-microphone slip Sunday criticizing the scope of Israel’s operation, was “not invited” to come out here.
“It’s a hell of a pinpoint operation, it’s a hell of a pinpoint operation,” Kerry told an aide over the phone on Sunday, seemingly criticizing the Israeli government’s pledge to limit the scope of its ground invasion, Politico reported. Kerry used the same word, “pinpoint,” that was employed by Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu during a Sunday interview with CNN.
Kerry decided on his own to come to the region, Oren said.
Oren’s comments followed remarks Sunday by Channel 2′s veteran Arab affairs analyst Ehud Ya’ari, one of Israel’s most respected commentators, who said that as far as Israel is concerned, the secretary of state’s ceasefire trip was premature “and bad for Israel,” and that he should have left it to the Egyptians to lead the ceasefire effort. Ya’ari said many people, “including senior American officials,” tried to convey this to Kerry.
This marks the continuing trend of the Obama administration “to give credit” to the Muslim Brotherhood, in this case Hamas, Ya’ari said, except that now it’s graver, because “we’re in a war.”
Kerry did defend Israel’s position over the weekend.
Kerry told NBC’s “Meet the Press” that it Hamas’s attacks on Israel are “unacceptable by any standard anywhere in the world” and that Israel must protect its citizens.
In response to a question on ABC’s “This Week,” Kerry dismissed claims that Israel was committing genocide as “rhetoric that we’ve heard many, many times.”
Kerry turned his answer into an excoriation of Hamas and continued, “What they need to do is stop rocketing Israel and accept a ceasefire. It’s very, very clear that they’ve tunneled under Israel. They’ve tried to come out of those tunnels with people with handcuffs and tranquilizer drugs to capture Israeli citizens and hold them for ransom, or worse. They’ve been rocketing Israel with thousands of rockets.
“They’ve been offered a ceasefire, and they’ve refused to take the ceasefire. Even though Egypt and others have called for that ceasefire, they’ve just stubbornly invited further efforts to try to defuse the ability to be able to rocket Israel.”
Kerry, a combat veteran, said that the situation in Gaza was “ugly, obviously,” acknowledging that “war is ugly, and bad things are going to happen,” but he added that “they” — not specifying whether he meant Hamas or the Palestinian Authority as a whole — “need to recognize their own responsibility.
“We have offered to have a ceasefire and then negotiate the issues. We’ve obviously shown our bona fides in the United States, and the president has put his presidency behind the effort to try to find peace in the region,” he continued. “So they need to join up and be responsible and accept a unilateral — not a unilateral, but a multilateral ceasefire without conditions, and then we pledge to discuss all the underlying issues, which we’ve been trying to do for the last year-and-a-half.”
Kerry was a combat veteran? Who knew???
Kerry is still “making friends and trying to influence people,” I see.
What an embarrassment.
Ah, c’mon guys. Lurch would let you hold his happy hat!
“I’m sorry Secretary Kerry...there seems to be a problem with your passport. Please, I ask that you wait in this room until we have it resolved.”
“Guard...err...Sergeant...please escort Mr. Kerry to the...err...guest room.”
“Do not worry Mr. Secretary. We’ll have this worked out in no time.”
So if he gets wounded, it will be Kosher this time. How did we get to the point where we have blithering idiots running the asylum. We are a lost people on a death spiral with eternity.
Freegards
LEX
They just want the Egyptians because they are looking for someone who isn’t blatantly pro Hamas.
It’s not on Israel, this time! Kerry is going to have to deal with EGYPT and they are not friendly to those who tried to get the Muslim Brotherhood in there to take over Egypt. Obama and Kerry’s goose is COOKED for that reason - with Egypt!
Arab rifts may complicate search for Gaza truce [Israel and Hamas]
http://news.yahoo.com/arab-rifts-may-complicate-search-gaza-truce-162358992.html
http://www.freerepublic.com/focus/f-news/3183170/posts
DOHA/CAIRO (Reuters) - The push for a Gaza ceasefire risks becoming mired in a regional tussle for influence between conservative Arab states and Islamist-friendly governments, with rival powers competing to take credit for a truce, analysts and some officials say.
The main protagonists are Arab heavyweight Egypt and the tiny Gulf state of Qatar, on opposite sides of a regional standoff over Hamas, the Islamist group that controls the Gaza Strip, and its ideological patron the Muslim Brotherhood.
Both camps suggest the other is motivated as much by a desire to polish diplomatic prestige and crush political adversaries as by the humanitarian goal of protecting Palestinian lives from the Israeli military.
“Gaza has turned very suddenly into the theater in which this new alignment within the Arab world is being expressed,” said UK-based analyst Ghanem Nusseibeh.
“Gaza is the first test for these new alliances, and this has affected the possibility of reaching a ceasefire there.”
He was referring to Qatar, Turkey, Sudan and non-Arab Iran, the main members of a loose grouping of states which believe Islamists represent the future of Middle East politics.
That camp stands in increasingly overt competition with a conservative, pro-Western group led by Egypt, Jordan, the United Arab Emirates and Saudi Arabia, most of whom are intent on crushing the Brotherhood and see it as a threat.
That cleavage is now apparent in the diplomacy over Gaza.
— — —
This was the “new alignment” in the Middle East spoken about in a previous article from Israel, posted a few days ago! Now Gaza and Hamas is the fulcrum in the middle of this test of wills between these two major blocks. Israel has aligned itself with the Egyptian side, because both Israel and Egypt have the common goal of crushing Hamas, while the other side wants to save Hamas!
Never before has one man traveled so many mils, spoken so many words and accomplished so very little. also there is something very peculiar about a man who insists on posing boarding and disembarking his jet wherever he goes.
Hillary has him beat in all that, except maybe the "man" part.
Wait a minute... Come to think of it....
We don’t want him here either.
Any takers?
This is really a 'when pigs fly moment' of something you'd never expect to see in your lifetime.
Now that’s funny........ Lurch is irrelevant. His Vietnam experience was dissed...... not relevant in Israel.
He just likes practicing his “I got this” pose in public, hoping he gets lucky one of these years, and his words match an actual accomplishment, intended or not.
Is the world still spinning?
Kerry was a combat veteran? Who knew???
Indeed he is and an expert on all matters military, or so it seems.
He is now reporting for duty in Israel.
God help Israel.
Perhaps they can provide with an early less than honorable discharge to get him out of their hair just tike the Navy did in Vietnam..
“In a notably critical interview, Michael Oren emphasizes that Israel would prefer Egyptian, not American, mediation.”
This is really a ‘when pigs fly moment’ of something you’d never expect to see in your lifetime.
Lots of those kind of moments running around these days.
If horserace did not go who would be there to defend the terrorists?
lol.
He has travelled many, many mils, that is for sure!
Disclaimer: Opinions posted on Free Republic are those of the individual posters and do not necessarily represent the opinion of Free Republic or its management. All materials posted herein are protected by copyright law and the exemption for fair use of copyrighted works.