Photo Credit: screen capture State.gov
U.S. State Dept. Spokesperson John Kirby at Daily Press Briefing, Oct. 15, 2015.

Several things became clear during Wednesday’s U.S. State Dept. press briefing, the first half of which focused exclusively on the wave of terrorism in Israel.

First, the overriding goal for the United States of America is the creation of a Two State Solution and anything that gets in the way of that is a problem. The Two State Solution is the Holy Grail (as it were) regardless of whether that fixed goal will dramatically increase violence and further destabilize the region or not.

Advertisement




Second, the U.S. State Department despises the fact that increasing numbers of Jews are living beyond the “Green Line,” in Judea and Samaria. The U.S. hates this so much that official policy is to condemn Jews living and breathing in that area at least as much, if not more, than brutal murders of innocent Jewish civilians by Arab terrorists.

Third, the U.S. has so embraced the idea that the Temple Mount “belongs” to the Palestinian Arabs that it casts unarmed, non-hostile Jewish tourists or Israelis who peacefully ascend the Mount as the legitimate cause of savage murders of any Jews, anywhere. The U.S. has jettisoned the fact that Israel re-acquired control of the Temple Mount in a defensive war and simply handed over control of that area to the Arabs, in the hope and belief that members of all religions would have equal access to that site.

Throughout the first half of the Oct. 15 State Dept. press briefing, reporters sought to pin down State Department Spokesperson John Kirby on who and what the U.S. believes is responsible for the recent tsunami of terror in which Jews were shot, stabbed with kitchen knives, hunting knives, butcher knives and rammed with cars by Arab Palestinians.

The violence is condemned by the U.S., although this government refuses to assign primary blame to either party. Young Arab men and women are brutally stabbing Israeli Jews standing at bus stops, boarding buses, walking on Israeli streets? That’s bad, but, as Kirby quoted Secretary of State John Kerry, “there’s disenfranchisement, there’s disgruntlement, there is – there’s frustration on both sides that have led to this [increase in violence].”

Why this reluctance to assign blame? It is because, apparently, anything that diplomats aching for a Two State Solution see as an impediment to their goal is equally bad. This becomes apparent from watching and reading the transcripts of the endless State Dept. briefings in which the issue of terrorism or violence in Israel is raised.

More than a dozen Israeli Jews going about their lives in Israel were stabbed, shot or run over by Arab terrorists in the past few weeks alone. One 17-year old Israeli Jew stabbed four Beduoins in Dimona, Israel. That act was condemned across the spectrum in the Israeli government, including by Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu.

“Israel is a country of law and order. Those who use violence and break the law – from whatever side – will be dealt with to the fullest extent of the law,” said Netanyahu. He added that he “strongly condemns the attack against innocent Arabs.”

When Matt Lee of the Associated Press asked Kirby why it was so important that Secretary Kerry refused to assign blame, the response was:

I think he’s been very clear that he wants both sides to take affirmative actions, both in rhetoric and in action, to de-escalate the tension, to restore calm, and to try to move forward towards a two-state solution. He also recognizes, as a public servant with a long career associated with foreign affairs and the diplomatic relations of this country, that many of these issues are ages old. And when there’s a specific attack such as we’ve seen, we are not shy about calling it out. And as I said last week on – if we believe it’s terrorism, to say it’s terrorism. We’re not shy about that in terms of affixing responsibility for it. But in terms of the general scope of the violence that we’re seeing and the unrest, he’s been very clear that rather than to affix blame specifically on all of that, to try to focus on moving forward and restoring calm.

In other words, specific acts don’t matter, the only thing that matters is the Holy Grail in the distance and the desire to continue moving towards it.

Advertisement

1
2
3
SHARE
Previous articleThird Intifada Or Third Reich?
Next articleState Dept. Says Israel Using Excessive Force in Suppressing Terrorist Violence
Lori Lowenthal Marcus is a contributor to the JewishPress.com. A graduate of Harvard Law School, she previously practiced First Amendment law and taught in Philadelphia-area graduate and law schools. You can reach her by email: [email protected]