John Kerry Adds a Slap to the Face After President Obama’s Knife to the Back
If last week’s decision by the Obama administration not to veto a United Nations resolution condemning Israel for its West Bank settlements wasn’t proof enough that our current president hates Israel, perhaps you need more evidence.
Exhibit B: Secretary of State John Kerry will be giving a speech that is set to begin within the hour that will serve as the slap in the face—the insult added to injury—following the president stabbing Israel in the back at the U.N. According to an advisory released by the Department of State, the speech will focus on “Middle East Peace.”
Israel is already angered by what happened in New York City last week. They were quick to lash out at the news that Kerry has more to say on the matter.
“This step is a pathetic step,” Public Security Minister Gilad Erdan told Israel Army Radio. “It is an anti-democratic step because it’s clear that the administration and Kerry’s intention is to chain President-elect [Donald] Trump.”
Additionally, there has been a bipartisan call from Congress for Kerry to scrap the speech. The president-elect also railed against the mistreatment of Israel in a “tweet storm” directed at President Barack Obama on Wednesday morning.
But the Washington Free Beacon is reporting that the current administration might not be finished. It reported Wednesday that staffers to congressional Republicans are concerned this may be just the “opening salvo” in a much bigger attack on Israel:
“The question now is whether this was the finale or the prologue of what this administration has planned against Israel,” the source said, adding that “everything is on the table right now—including funding cuts and scaling back diplomatic relations with countries that brought forward this resolution.”
A similar list of punitive actions was confirmed by multiple congressional sources who spoke to the Free Beacon about the matter. The sources were granted anonymity so they could speak freely.
“Obama went to the U.N. because a U.N. resolution is functionally irreversible by normal means,” added a veteran foreign policy insider who is currently working with the incoming Trump administration. “Obama’s goal was to eliminate any limited options that could be used to repair the damage to Israel, and he gambled that Trump and Congress would be too intimidated to use the remaining big stick options. He’s going to lose that gamble.”
“American leaders will now use exactly those options,” the source explained. “Everything is on the table, from systematically going after the U.N., to moving the U.S. embassy into parts of Jerusalem the U.N. says aren’t Israeli, to kicking the Palestinians out of Washington.”