John Kerry cheats. Israel's Left trembles

posted after Shabbat, 9:30 pm Israel time
Updated: February 2, 2014

Today, Saturday, February 1, 2013, US Secretary of State John Kerry upped the ante in the game called, ‘peace talks with Israel’. He warned Israel not to let the talks fail.  

He’s not a good negotiator. He has a faulty memory. He forgets that Israel isn’t the only participant in these talks. He forgets to warn the Arabs not to let the talks fail.

When only Israel gets warned, you know it isn’t a good day for justice. Justice requires that a mediator treat both  parties equally. When John Kerry threatens only the Jewish State, you don’t see justice. You see an 800-pound gorilla threatening the Jew.

By threatening only Israel, Kerry tilts judgment to favour the Arab. Our Tanach calls such favour the perversion of justice.  

Should you do business with someone who perverts justice?

Kerry suggested that if Israel failed to reach an agreement with Abbas, it will suffer. He warned, “People are [already] talking about boycott. That [talk of boycott] will intensify in the case of failure”(“Kerry: Mideast peace hopes not ‘quixotic”, Times of Israel, February 1, 2014).

As if to buttress his warning, news reports circulate that two European Banks have ended all ties with Israeli banks doing business in the ‘West Bank’. Another report said that one European bank has now demanded that two Israeli banks reveal immediately details of their operations in the West Bank.

This juxtaposition of Kerry’s reference to boycott with the announcement of these banks boycotting Israel may not be coincidence. Remember, Kerry’s not a good negotiator. He has a faulty memory.

He forgets that we know how he works to ‘help’ Israel. He helps by cheating.

Should you do business with a cheat?

In July, 2013, he orchestrated a European Union (EU) boycott threat against Israel ("Report: Kerry is Behind European Boycotts", Israel National News, January 7, 2014). He then went into these negotiations as the ‘broker’ with that anti-Israel boycott in his pocket.

That’s like playing poker with an extra Ace hidden up your sleeve. Kerry used that hidden Ace in September, 2013 just after the talks began: he threatened Israel ("Kerry warns of third intifada, Israel's isolation, if peace talks break down", September 7, 2013, Jerusalem Post). Now he warns Israel again as he prepares to return to the Middle East.

Israel’s Left, including Yesh Atid’s Yair Lapid, falls for Kerry’s gimmick each time he uses it. They’re suckers for the old ‘hidden Ace’ cheat.  They want so much to be loved, they’ll fall for any trick the US uses to frighten them.

Israel’s Left yearns to be accepted by the non-Jewish world. They value the not-Jewish over the Jewish. They are therefore terrified by a boycott threat. Boycott suggests rejection, not acceptance.


The very mention of a boycott gives Israel's Left a panic attack. Say,’boycott’, and they will instantly demand that Israel give Kerry everything he wants—immediately, if not sooner.

For example, the terrified Lapid has warned that the EU is so ready to harm Israel it will cancel important agreements if 'peace' talks fail. Cancelling those agreements, he claimed, will cost Israel more than a billion NIS (“Lapid: EU considering striking central treaty with Israel if peace talks fail”, Jerusalem Post, January 29, 2014).

But the EU denied they were even thinking such a thing. It looked as if the moment Lapid had cried ‘wolf', there was no wolf in sight.

It was quite a show: Israel faces a threat and Yair Lapid pushes the panic button--in public. That’s not leadership. That's raw fear.


That kind of fear has another name: cowardice.

 While Lapid shows the world how terrified he is, Israel’s Deputy Defense Minister Danny Danon had a different response to Kerry's threats. He said, "we respect Secretary of State Kerry but will not hold talks with a gun to our head. Friends don't” use ultimatums with friends (“John Kerry Threatens Israel With Boycotts if Talks Fail”, Arutz Sheva, February 1, 2014).

We need people like Danon if we are to survive. Cowardice won’t help us.

Lapid and the Left are so frightened they render themselves useless. Do not follow their fear. Forget them. They are terrified. They spend so much of their time worrying about ‘the other guy’ they can’t figure out how to defend us.

Actually, if you listen to them, you’ll realize that they do not defend us. They surrender. 



That’s not leadership. That’s panic.

The Left reminds one of the fictional attorney, Perry Mason (see “The Perry Mason school of life”, Sarah Honig, Jerusalem Post, January 27, 2012). In her 2012 essay, Honig gives us a piece of Perry Mason advice: the best fighters don’t worry about what the other man may do.

That’s good advice. It’s something the Left doesn’t understand.  All they do is worry about the other man.

Here’s some advice for you: don’t follow the Left. Don’t believe anyone who is terrified by the other guy.

If you do that, you’ll lose.