Earlier on Friday, Ynet revealed that the Obama administration refused the Israeli defense minister's request to meet with other top officials, including Vice President Joe Biden, Secretary of State John Kerry, and the National Security Advisor Susan Rice.
Since then, reports have said the same officials tried to prevent Ya'alon from meeting with the US' UN ambassador Samantha Power – and when the two did meet, Ya'alon reportedly heard mostly of Power's objection to settlement construction.
During the last bout of US-led peace talks, Ya'alon dubbed Kerry's diplomatic efforts "obsessive and messianic," saying "Kerry should win his Nobel and leave us in peace." Ya'alon's current treatment is said to be an attempt to settle the score.
Ya'alon did hold a successful meeting with his US counterpart, Chuck Hegal, indicating that the reason for the cold shoulder was more a testament to personal tensions between Ya'alon and the White House than an attempt to sabotage Israel's relations with the US.
[. . .]
Ya'alon also infuriated officials in Washington with comments accusing the administration of being weak on Iran and by questioning the US commitment to Israel's security. That followed reports that Ya'alon had criticized Kerry for being unrealistic and naive in trying to forge an Israeli-Palestinian peace deal.
http://www.ynetnews.com/articles/0,7340,L-4584052,00.html
Lapid: Israel-US relations in 'crisis'
After Ynet learns White House officials prevented defense minister from meeting Kerry and Biden, Lapid says 'We need to act with more respect. We must remember that US funds and technology helped Gaza operation.'
Moran Azulay
Published: 10.25.14, 20:17 / Israel News
* * *
John Kerry (left), with Benjamin Netanyahu
[From article]
Like a regular mantra, US Secretary of State John Kerry has a habit of saying that the Israeli-Palestinian issue cannot remain unchanged.
Strangely enough, he isn't saying that about the conflict in Syria, where the death toll has already crossed the 200,000 mark with people being slaughtered, beheaded and dying in different ways, on its way to the 250,000 mark; he isn't saying that about four million refugees from Syria and 10 million displaced people; he isn't saying that about the Islamic State, which is beheading people and butchering minorities; he isn't saying that about Iraq, which has been torn into pieces, or about Baghdad's airport which is about to fall into the hands of jihadist terror.
He isn't saying that about Libya either, a country controlled by a coalition of insane jihad organizations, on the verge of Europe. He isn't saying that about Yemen, which has died and is controlled by wild tribes navigated from behind the scenes by the "smiling" Iran; he isn't saying that about the intolerable uranium enrichment in Tehran, which has him and the West wrapped around its little finger.
He isn't saying that about Russia either, which not only conquered eastern Ukraine, but also annexed the huge Crimea region. It isn't an "occupation," after all; that only exists in Israel.
http://www.ynetnews.com/articles/0,7340,L-4583494,00.html
Why is Kerry singling out Israel?
Op-ed: US secretary of state keeps saying Israeli-Palestinian issue cannot remain unchanged. What about the situation in Syria, Iraq, Russia, China and Turkey?
Published: 10.25.14, 11:44 / Israel Opinion
No comments:
Post a Comment