"Apartheid" - One Gaffe too Many - Mr. Obama, Get Rid of John Kerry

Secretary of State John Kerry is once again at the center of the world stage for all the wrong reasons. Kerry says he chose the wrong word in describing Israel's potential future, but only after he came under withering criticism for saying the Jewish state could become an "apartheid state" if it doesn't reach a peace deal with the Palestinians. Monday, Kerry lashed out at "partisan political" attacks against him, but acknowledged his comments last week to a closed international Trilateral Commission forum in Washington could have been misinterpreted. Here is his comment, as reported by The Daily Beast : “A two-state solution will be clearly underscored as the only real alternative. Because a unitary state winds up either being an apartheid state with second-class citizens - or it ends up being a state that destroys the capacity of Israel to be a Jewish state,” Kerry said. Now, Kerry says he may have chosen the wrong word, but he pointedly did not apologize, stressing that he was, and is, a strong supporter of Israel, which he called a "vibrant democracy." He said he does not believe Israel is, or is definitely on track to become, an "apartheid state." Kerry's prepared statement, was issued by the State Department and defended by Department spokesperson Jen Psaki, who sought to put Kerry’s comments in context Monday, noting that he remains committed to a two-state solution and was not accusing Israel of having a current policy of apartheid : “The secretary does not believe and did not state publicly or privately that Israel is an apartheid state, and there’s an important difference there. Israel is obviously a vibrant democracy with equal rights for all of its citizens,” she said. But Kerry's statement was very defensive, insisting that he would not allow his commitment to Israel to be questioned by anyone, "particularly for partisan, political purposes, so I want to be crystal clear about what I believe and what I don't believe," Kerry wrote after US lawmakers and pro-Israel groups criticized him, with some demanding his resignation or at least an apology. Kerry admitted the force of words, writing : if I could rewind the tape, I would have chosen a different word to describe my firm belief that the only way in the long term to have a Jewish state and two nations and two peoples living side by side in peace and security is through a two-state solution." In his backpeddling statement, Kerry defended his general point, noting that numerous Israeli officials, including Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu and predecessors Ehud Barak and Ehud Olmert, have offered similar assessments in the past, but conceded that 'apartheid' is a word best left out of the debate here at home." Netanyahu's office declined comment. But Israeli Transportation Minister Yisrael Katz, a member of Netanyahu's Likud Party, wrote a scathing criticism of Kerry on his Facebook page. Kerry's "apartheid" comment was also condemned by the pro-Israel community in America and from the entire political spectrum in Congress. House GOP majority leader Eric Cantor released a statement urging Kerry to apologize to the Israeli government and people : “The use of the word apartheid has routinely been dismissed as both offensive and inaccurate, and Secretary Kerry’s use of it makes peace even harder to achieve.” Texas Republican Senator Ted Cruz called for Kerry's resignation. Cruz declared on the Senate floor : “The fact that Secretary Kerry sees nothing wrong with making such a statement on the eve of Holocaust Remembrance Day demonstrates a shocking lack of sensitivity to the incendiary and damaging nature of his rhetoric. It is my belief that Secretary Kerry has thus proven himself unsuitable for his position and that before any further harm is done to our alliance with Israel, he should offer President Obama his resignation and the President should accept it.” Florida Senator Marco Rubio described the comments as "outrageous and disappointing." At the opposite end of the congressional spectrum, liberal Democratic Senator Barbara Boxer of California also criticized Kerry's comment, saying on Twitter : "Israel is the only democracy in the Middle East and any linkage between Israel and apartheid is nonsensical and ridiculous." The influential American Israel Public Affairs Committee described Kerry's use of the term as "offensive." AIPAC’s statement read in part : “Israel is the lone stable democracy in the Middle East, and protects the rights of minorities regardless of ethnicity or religion.” Abe Foxman, president of the Anti-Defamation League, said he found it : "startling and deeply disappointing that a diplomat so knowledgeable and experienced about democratic Israel chose to use such an inaccurate and incendiary term." ~~~~~ Kerry has invested significant time and effort to bringing Israelis and Palestinians to the negotiating table, with the goal of reaching a deal in nine months. But, on today's Kerry-chosen peace accord deadline, he has achieved nothing positive, often sowing discord between Israel and America instead. Here are some of the most controversial things Secretary of State John Kerry has said about Israel since he rose to the post of America’s top diplomat last year. The list was prepared by the New Algemeiner, an American Jewish eNewspaper : 1. Israel  could become an “apartheid state” if a two- state solution doesn’t pan out. 2. Israel announced 700 new settlement units and “poof, that was sort of the moment” the peace talks were imperiled. 3. It’s a “mistake” to keep demanding that the Palestinians recognize Israel as a Jewish state. 4. The Jewish state  will face more boycotts and international isolation if peace talks fail. 5. “Not one Israeli was killed by a Palestinian from the West Bank” in 2013. (A Shin Bet report said there were five such deaths). 6. Ignore Israeli thinking when it comes to Iran sanctions. 7. Israel could face a third violent Palestinian intifada if peace talks fail. 8. The US views all Israeli settlements are “illegitimate.” 9. Amid the fall of Egyptian President Mohamed Morsi and a bloody civil war in Syria, the Israeli-Palestinian conflict is the “core issue” of Middle East instability. 10. Comparing as equal the victims of the Boston Marathon bombings and the Turkish jihadist militants killed aboard the Mavi Marmara flotilla after they attacked Israeli soldiers. ~~~~~ Dear readers, even Kerry's hometown paper, the Boston Globe, called his 'apartheid' comment "the mother of all gaffes." And, Mark Whittington on Yahoo Voices made the perfect overall criticism of John Kerry : "The flap is somewhat telling of the dolorous state of Obama foreign policy. The current administration has managed to make America's enemies despise her, her friends afraid of her, and the American people outraged. It is quite a hat trick for the man who was elected to fix what he thought was George W. Bush's foreign policy mistakes. But next to him, the younger Bush is increasingly being seen as a Prince Talleyrand in comparison. With Bush, one knew where one stood. He was not in the habit of insulting allies and appeasing enemies. Sadly the current president is in the habit of doing both, much to the detriment of America's standing in the world." ~~~~~ But, if you prefer fewer words in describing Kerry, how about John Paul II's more general comment -- "Stupidity is also a gift from God, but one mustn't misuse it."