Monday, February 03, 2014

Amateur Hour: Kerry Claims No West Bank Palestinians Murdered Israelis in 2013

This is not the first time that the Obama Administration has demonstrated its ignorance of Jews and Israel.

At least twice during his first term, Obama publicly stated that the Jewish bond with Israel dates only to the Holocaust.

I think that the idea of a secure Jewish state is a fundamentally just idea, and a necessary idea, given not only world history but the active existence of anti-Semitism, the potential vulnerability that the Jewish people could still experience. I know that that there are those who would argue that in some ways America has become a safe refuge for the Jewish people, but if you’ve gone through the Holocaust, then that does not offer the same sense of confidence and security as the idea that the Jewish people can take care of themselves no matter what happens. That makes it a fundamentally just idea. [emphasis added]
In his Cairo speech, Obama made the same mistake:
America's strong bonds with Israel are well known. This bond is unbreakable. It is based upon cultural and historical ties, and the recognition that the aspiration for a Jewish homeland is rooted in a tragic history that cannot be denied. [emphasis added]
Two years into his first term, Obama finally acknowledge the long historical ties of Jews to Israel in an address to the UN General Assembly in 2010:
Israel is a sovereign state, and the historic homeland of the Jewish people.
Better late than never.

But recently, Obama incorrectly claimed that Muslim Antisemitism is merely decades old:
Experts are scoffing at President Barack Obama’s apparent belief that widespread Muslim hatred of Jews is only decades old.

“Obama reveals that he has no idea, or doesn’t want to give the impression that he has any idea, about the reality of Islamic anti-Semitism,” said Robert Spencer, the author of many books on Islamic ideas and director of Jihad Watch.

“Anti-Semitism is hard-wired into Islam,” from its origins before 700, said Andrew Bostom, author of three books about Islam, including “The Legacy of Islamic Antisemitism,” which lists centuries of anti-Semitic hatred, murders, pogroms and apartheid-like discrimination.
Apparently now it is Secretary of State Kerry's turn.

Yesterday, John Kerry made the following outlandish remark about Palestinian attacks on Israelis:
So I am not going to sit here and give you a measure of optimism, but I will give you a full measure of commitment. President Obama and I and our Administration are as committed to this as anything we’re engaged in because we think it can be a game-changer for the region. And as Foreign Minister Abdullah bin Zayed said – he’s here somewhere – to a Paris meeting of the Arab League the other day, spontaneously he said, “You know, if peace is made, Israel will do more business with the Gulf states and the Middle East than it does with Europe today.”

This is the difference of 6 percent GDP per year to Israel, not to mention that today’s status quo absolutely, to a certainty, I promise you 100 percent, cannot be maintained. It’s not sustainable. It’s illusionary. There’s a momentary prosperity, there’s a momentary peace. Last year, not one Israeli was killed by a Palestinian from the West Bank. This year, unfortunately, there’s been an uptick in some violence. But the fact is the status quo will change if there is failure. So everybody has a stake in trying to find the pathway to success.
Kerry apparently is blissfully unaware of the uptick in Palestinian terrorist attacks that Israel faced last year from Yehudah and Shomron (West Bank) leading to the murders of 5 Israels -- as covered last year by The Tower:
  • April 30, 2013

    Israeli Father of Five Stabbed to Death by Palestinian Terrorist
    A Palestinian terrorist today stabbed to death an Israeli father of five at a hitchhiking post in the West Bank. The attacker had been released from Israeli custody six months ago, after serving a three year prison sentence for trying to injure and kill Israelis with rocks.

  • September 23, 2013

    Palestinian Officials Blamed for Incitement After Two Israeli Soldiers Murdered
    Two Israeli soldiers were killed by Palestinians in recent days, renewing criticism of Palestinian leaders accused of inciting violence and failing to prepare the Palestinian public for co-existence with the Jewish state and rattling U.S.-backed peace negotiations

  • October 11, 2013

    West Bank Murder Underscores Concerns Over Fatah Incitement, Hamas Terror Infrastructure
    A retired 61 year old Israeli colonel was bludgeoned to death today, with reports conveying eyewitness testimony from the man’s wife describing a well-planned terror attack. Accounts indicate that two Palestinians wielding iron bars and axes killed Seraya Ofer, which if confirmed would make the murder the latest in a string of deadly terror attacks which have taken place in recent weeks. Two other Israelis have been killed by Palestinians, and a nine year old girl was shot this week by attackers who approached her family’s home. The spike in violence has deepened fears that Palestinians from rival camps – both the Fatah-dominated Palestinian Authority (PA) and Hamas – are deliberately fomenting violence in the West Bank.

  • November 14, 2013

    Israeli Soldier Stabbed to Death by Palestinian Terrorist Amid Hamas Terror Rebuilding, Fatah Incitement Spike
    A 19-year-old Israeli soldier was stabbed to death this morning on an Israeli bus by a 16-year-old Palestinian terrorist, sustaining several wounds to his neck and chest and eventually succumbing to his injuries after being admitted to to a hospital.
    Israel Defense Forces soldier Eden Atias, 19, from Nazareth Illit, was stabbed to death by a Palestinian teenager Wednesday in the northern Israeli city of Afula.
photo
John Kerry: Not up on news in the Middle East?


The question remains as to how confident Israelis can be in Kerry in the face of  his ignorance of current events in general and Israel's security needs in particular.


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