Kerry Regrets Calling Israel an 'Apartheid State'

U.S. Secretary of State John Kerry on Monday expressed his regret for saying that Israel would become "an apartheid state" if talks failed.

“I will not allow my 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,” said Kerry in a statement entitled “On Support for Israel” which was posted to the State Department website.

“Israel is a vibrant democracy and I do not believe, nor have I ever stated, publicly or privately, that Israel is an apartheid state or that it intends to become one. Anyone who knows anything about me knows that without a shred of doubt,” he added.

“I have been around long enough to also know the power of words to create a misimpression, even when unintentional, and 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,” said Kerry.

“In the long term, a unitary, binational state cannot be the democratic Jewish state that Israel deserves or the prosperous state with full rights that the Palestinian people deserve. That’s what I said, and it’s also what Prime Minister Netanyahu has said,” he added.

“While Justice Minister Livni, former Prime Ministers Barak and Olmert have all invoked the specter of apartheid to underscore the dangers of a unitary state for the future, it is a word best left out of the debate here at home.”

The statement follows a wave of backlash against the top diplomat, after The Daily Beast published comments from a meeting on Friday, in which he warned that Israel will become an "apartheid state" if a peace agreement is not reached with the Palestinian Authority (PA).

Kerry was criticized for his comments by Transportation Minister Yisrael Katz and by Dani Dayan, Chief Foreign Envoy of the Council of Judea and Samaria.

Congressional Republicans also lashed out at Kerry, with House Majority Leader Eric Cantor calling on him to apologize, and Sen. Ted Cruz taking it even further and calling for Kerry’s resignation.

Kerry’s spokeswoman, Jen Psaki, was unhelpful on Monday in trying to clarify Kerry’s remarks.

All Psaki could come up with to justify the statement was that it was part of Kerry’s support for the “two-state solution” and that “many officials have used similar phrases”.

http://www.israelnationalnews.com/News/News.aspx/180048#.U2NbkFe9YmJ

Friends (or at least those of you who aren’t… well you know),

Its another beautiful day here in Apartheidia, the place formerly known as Israel. The decision has been made to change names to reflect the reality of the situation that exists here now that we have not decided to commit suicide by accepting 5 million Palestinian refugees (there are actually only 3,500 refugees, but when you thrown in children, grandchildren, and their accountants the number grows somewhat), re-drawing the lines of Israel to only include the Port of Tel Aviv (we fought hard for that one), and Herzliyah Pituach (and that’s about it), and to neuter the IDF.

So, as that master of diplomatic acrobatics John Kerry so aptly pointed out, there is nothing left for us to do but to come out of the Apartheid closet.

There is just one problem we are all grappling with. Who are we exactly “apartheiding,” if I can put it that way. There have been numerous concerned citizen meetings in our town and others trying to get answers to this.

We asked our Ethiopian gardener about it and he said that he is saving up for an apartment, so if the country goes to hell, it should drive down the price of real estate. Our Arab family GP said no more antibiotics, get out and get some fresh air, even if it meant rubbing elbows with the apartheided.

Our Druze contractor did say that many of his family were being apartheided to death across the border in Syria, but he admitted that this didn’t have much to do with events on this side of the Golan.

There were some of our married friends who offered their spouse as an apartheid victim (or victor), the goal being a bit of critical distance.

But basically, we haven’t been able to quite figure out who is being apartheided. It’s funny, if you read the newspapers, you see the many opportunities for apartheid, whether it is Russians in the Ukraine, Christians most anywhere in the Mid East (oh, except here in Apartheidia, where they have just been recently responding to a voluntary IDF draft notice), and by their choice, Muslims most everywhere in Europe.

Look, if that searing light of diplomacy and international understanding, John Kerry (who must be channeling the all time guru of enlightened international affairs, Jimmy Carter) says we are an Apartheid state, then we must be.

We just need some help here getting with the Apartheid program. This place looks too much like one of those Benetton ads. One of the ideas that came out of the most recent town meeting was that “Apartheid Begins at Home.” In other words, each of us, in our own ways can start the ball rolling. Some particularly good ideas:

1. No more humus, because that might connote acceptance of Arabs.

2. No more burekas, because that might connote acceptance of Mizrachim. Ditto malawa because of the toxic association with Yeminites.

3. Olives. Forget about it. Too many are grown by Arabs. Ditto dates.

4. Dining out in Tel Aviv, especially groovy areas like Neve Tzedek and Yaffo. Out of the question. Could be consorting with gays.

5. No more driving in northern Israel, since the main roads go through Druze villages and that’s no longer tolerable.

6. Jerusalem? No way. Its out of central casting for It’s A Small World.

7. Stay away from the IDF. They have those Beduoin units, Hareidi units, and they let Druze guys serve wherever they want.

8. You can’t even go to Judea and Samaria any more because too many Palestinians work there, in crimes against humanity locales like the SodaStream factory.

Secretary Kerry, we need your help. Show us the way to clean, healthy Apartheid living. You obviously have seen us for what we are. With your unerring leadership, we should be ready to be true to our Apartheidia instincts.

But just one question, impertinent as it might seem. With the UN condemning the State formerly known as Israel every hour on the half hour, with Iranian entrepreneurs making a killing with Death to Israel party favors, with European Muslims putting out special signed editions of The Protocols of the Elders of Zion,

WHO’S APARTHEIDING WHOM?

Israel is not an apartheid state, have never seen it that way, I think the only view to this being the case was on segregated buses into Israel, due to fears of terrorism, of which I do not agree with the segregation, I can at least see how it has arisen due to many terrorist attacks on buses, though again segregation is not the answer as it is casting a view on many Palestinians as potential terrorists which is wrong. When Israel has one of the best intelligence services in the world, such a step is going a tad too far.

Kerry was only saying what many Israelis have been saying for years:

But the apartheid analogy is already a common one among centre-left politicians here. In 2010, former Prime Minister Ehud Barak warned that "as long as between the Jordan and the sea, there is only one political entity, named Israel, it will end up being either non-Jewish or non-democratic… If the Palestinians vote in elections, it is a binational state, and if they don't, it is an apartheid state."

Ehud Olmert did not use the word "apartheid," but alluded to it in an interview with Ha’aretz in 2007, when he was prime minister.

And Tzipi Livni, the current justice minister, warned last year that Israel faced a possible future as an "apartheid state".

http://www.aljazeera.com/news/middleeast/2014/04/apartheid-analogy-common-among-israel-left-2014428154556732726.html

The peace groups within Israel have also been saying it.

Sorry sassy I disagree, Arabs have far more rights in Israel than they do in any neighboring country, they are not denied as members of Parliament and Arabs serve in the Cabinet, that is not Apartheid, far from it.


http://www.cjnews.com/campus/israeli-arabs-help-debunk-apartheid-myths

Of course Didge, you know more than a former Prime Minister.

Sassy wrote:Of course Didge, you know more than a former Prime Minister.

On history I guess I do and I also take the view of others, not just someone who has made being a Prime Minister, that is not even a valid counter Sassy

OMG, he's been Prime Minister of the country and you know more than him.   Didge, you are so up yourself on some things it's unbelievable!  

Note to self, Didge is all knowing and knows more about a country than a Prime Minister who has led it, ie, he's delusional.

Sassy wrote:OMG, he's been Prime Minister of the country and you know more than him.   Didge, you are so up yourself on some things it's unbelievable!  

Note to self, Didge is all knowing and knows more about a country than a Prime Minister who has led it, ie, he's delusional.

I reckon I do know more on history than him, because it is my subject, try reading what I posted, I never said I knew more than him on everything.
Again no doubt he knows more about Israel than me, then I know people from Israel who would counter that view, being as they know Israel just as well

lol

dodge cant even get his own gang members to support him

 ::smthg:: 

smelly_bandit wrote:lol

dodge cant even get his own gang members to support him

 ::smthg:: 

Didge's gang? You are so joking. A few things I agree with his points, I very rarely agree with the way he makes them. People who dislike you don't make a gang.

smelly_bandit wrote:lol

dodge cant even get his own gang members to support him

 ::smthg:: 

Shows how little you know, Sassy knows I have never agreed with her view point on this, I respect her view point on this, but very much disagree with her on Israel as I always have.
Weird that this is a suprise to you, when there is countless threads on the matter, do you need to go to spec savers?

Sassy wrote:

smelly_bandit wrote:lol

dodge cant even get his own gang members to support him

 ::smthg:: 

Didge's gang?   You are so joking.   A few things I agree with his points, I very rarely agree with the way he makes them.   People who dislike you don't make a gang.

sassy dont be coy

its well known that there are two camps on here, and you and didge are firm allies

smelly_bandit wrote:

Sassy wrote:

Didge's gang?   You are so joking.   A few things I agree with his points, I very rarely agree with the way he makes them.   People who dislike you don't make a gang.

sassy dont be coy

its well known that there are two camps on here, and you and didge are firm allies

 ://?roflmao?/: ://?roflmao?/: ://?roflmao?/: ://?roflmao?/: 


Sassy is very much left wing and we disagree on many political points, the only thing we actually agree on is being against discrimination.
Seriously that shows how paranoid and off the charts barking mad you are on what views people have.

Didge wrote:

smelly_bandit wrote:

sassy dont be coy

its well known that there are two camps on here, and you and didge are firm allies

 ://?roflmao?/: ://?roflmao?/: ://?roflmao?/: ://?roflmao?/: 


Sassy is very much left wing and we disagree on many political points, the only thing we actually agree on is being against discrimination.
Seriously that shows how paranoid and off the charts barking mad you are on what views people have.

Actually, the thought of you and I agreeing on a political point is quite scarey  ::D:: 

Sassy wrote:

Didge wrote:


 ://?roflmao?/: ://?roflmao?/: ://?roflmao?/: ://?roflmao?/: 


Sassy is very much left wing and we disagree on many political points, the only thing we actually agree on is being against discrimination.
Seriously that shows how paranoid and off the charts barking mad you are on what views people have.

Actually, the thought of you and I agreeing on a political point is quite scarey  ::D:: 

I might have to have a lie down from the shock.

  

Didge wrote:

Sassy wrote:

Actually, the thought of you and I agreeing on a political point is quite scarey  ::D:: 

I might have to have a lie down from the shock.

  

You and me both!