Wednesday, December 23, 2015

Kerry’s plan for an Abbas-inspired peace: blame Israel

US Secretary of State John Kerry is a busy man. He works hard for peace.

He works for peace by consoling a rogue Iran (Shianee Mamanglu-Regala, “U.S. accused of bowing to Iran as it seeks to ease visa restrictions while ignoring Tehran nuke violations”, christiantoday, December 23, 2015). He works for peace by listening patiently to a China that spits and threatens (Karthick Arvinth, ”China warns US against 'provocative actions' in South China Sea”, International Business Times, December 22, 2015).

But working ‘with’ China and Iran isn’t Kerry’s first love. His first love is working against Israel.

Here’s how that works:  

-When the 2013-14 peace talks between Israel and the Palestinian Authority (PA) began to falter in late 2013, he blamed Israel (Lori Lowenthal Marcus, “Kerry Blames, Threatens Israel if ‘Peace Talks’ Fail”, JewishPress, November 8, 2013).

-When those same peace talks looked like they would collapse, he blamed Israel (“Kerry blames Israel for feared collapse of peace talks”, middle east eye, April 4, 2014).

-When—a few days later--those talks had, basically, collapsed, Kerry blamed Israel (Raphael Ahren, “Kerry focuses blame on Israel for collapse of talks”, Times of Israel, April 8, 2014). He said Israel carried the lion’s share of responsibility for that failure (ibid).

-When it was clear to all that ISIS was spreading like a wildfire across the Levant, Kerry blamed Israel. He said Israel’s failure to close a ‘peace’ deal with Mahmoud Abbas was fuelling ISIS’ spread (Tova Dvroin, “Kerry Blames ISIS on Failure in Israeli Peace Talks”, Arutz Sheva, October 17, 2014).

-When the current wave of Arab terror in Israel was a month old, Kerry blamed Israel for that terror (Lee Smith, “John Kerry Blames Israel For Palestinian Terror”, tablet, October 15, 2015).

In December, 2015, he continues to blame Israel. He’s announced that, because of the failure to achieve ‘peace’ with Israel, the Palestinian Authority (PA) could collapse (“US Secretary of State Warns of Collapse of Palestinian Authority and Its Consequences”, ndtv, December 6, 2015). If that collapse occurred, PA officials have added, ISIS will take over the PA (Elad Benari, “Erekat: Make peace or ISIS will take over”, Arutz Sheva, December 11, 2015).

This most recent blame-Israel gambit could be Kerry’s best anti-Israel move yet. This ‘PA can collapse’ is no new, crack-pot insanity. It’s a time-tested accusation. It’s been around for more than a decade. Kerry’s contribution to it is, he vaulted it onto the international stage. As soon as he publicized it on December 5-6, 2015, it went viral across the globe. 
  
Here’s a brief history of the ‘blame-Israel-for-a-PA-collapse’ game:

-The PA was going to collapse in in August, 2015 (“US warns Palestinian Authority could collapse following terror ruling”, i24news, August 11, 2015).

-The PA was going to collapse in February, 2015 (Noam Amir, “IDF security assessment: The Palestinian Authority can collapse at any moment”, Jerusalem Post, February 13, 2015).

-The PA was going to collapse in 2014 (Amira Hass, “The Palestinian Authority Is on the Brink of Collapse, Study Says”, Haaretz, March 21, 2014).

-The PA was going to collapse in 2013 (Khaled Elgindyin, “Ramallah Unravels - The Collapse of the Palestinian Authority”, brookings.edu, January 17, 2013).

-The PA was going to collapse in 2011 (Vita Bekker, “Palestinian Authority faces financial collapse”, financialtimes, September 21, 2011).

-The PA was going to collapse in 2009 (Branko Brkic, “Palestinian Authority could collapse if Abbas resigns?”, DailyMaverick, November 10, 2009).

-The PA was going to collapse in 2006 (Charles Levinson, “World Bank: Palestinian Authority faces collapse”, Mail&Guardian, May 8, 2008). 

-The PA was going to collapse in 2004 (“Annan fears Palestinian collapse”, BBCnews, January 28, 2004).

Most of these stories blamed Israel—directly or by suggestion--for a PA collapse. Truly, it’s an accusation that has never gone stale. 

The PA-is-going-to-collapse accusation might become the near-term mantra for Kerry’s ‘blame Israel’ strategy. It’s certainly a wonderful way to work against Israel. As the PA's Erekat suggested (above), blaming Israel for a PA collapse makes Israel the instant villain, who introduces ISIS to subvert peace--and destroy the PA.

That accusation (and ISIS threat) helps Mahmoud Abbas, leader of the PA. For Abbas, ‘peace’ means 'Palestine' replaces Israel (PLO Charter). Therefore, he loves to hear Kerry blame Israel. He believes that the more Kerry blames Israel, the weaker Israel becomes—and the closer Israel gets to ‘disappearing’.

That’s not true. But Abbas doesn’t care about truth. What he cares about is, an Israel that’s been ‘Kerry-ized’ into diplomatic isolation is an Israel ripe for attack.

You see that thought-process unfolding on Israel’s streets. The more Kerry blames Israel, the more confident Abbas becomes that he can kill Jews with impunity. Isn’t that why we’ve seen so many stabbings and car attacks lately against Jews in Israel?

Kerry wants an Abbas ‘peace’. Kerry works hard for that ‘peace’.

He can’t wait to blame Israel.


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