Defense Minister: Kerry is ‘Obsessive and Messianic’
By Gil Ronen, INN
Daily newspaper Yediot Aharonot cites Defense Minister Moshe Yaalon, in closed conversations, as dismissing the US ‘peace plan’ out of hand and calling US Secretary of State John Kerry “messianic” and “obsessive.”
According to senior reporter Shimon Shiffer, Yaalon said in closed conversations ahead of Kerry’s latest visit that “the American security plan that was presented to us is not worth the paper it was written on. It contains neither security nor peace. Only our continued presence in Judea and Samaria and the Jordan River will guarantee that Ben Gurion Airport and (the northern city of) Netanya do not become targets for missiles from every direction.
“Secretary of State John Kerry – who came here very determined, and operates based upon an unfathomable obsession and a messianic feeling – cannot teach me anything about the Palestinians,” he is quoted as saying.
Mahmoud Abbas “lives on our sword,” said Yaalon. “Once we leave Judea and Samaria, he is finished. In fact, throughout the recent months, there is no negotiation between us and the Palestinians – but rather, between us and the Americans. The only thing that can ‘save’ us is that John Kerry will get a Nobel peace prize and leave us alone.”
“I live and breathe the conflict with the Palestinians, I know what they think, what they want and what they really mean,” he went on. “The American security plan that was presented to us is not worth the paper it was written on.”
Bennett likens Abbas to Arafat, calls for annexation of most of West Bank
JPOST
Economy Minister Naftali Bennett denounced Palestinian Authority President Mahmoud Abbas on Tuesday as “no different than [his predecessor] Yasser Arafat,” and that Israel would be better off annexing large swaths of the West Bank in order to safeguard its security needs.
In an interview with Israel Radio, Bennett assailed Abbas for “calling for a million martyrs to march on Jerusalem” as well as the Palestinian leader’s insistence that Israel accept the right of return of refugees who fled their homes in 1948.
The minister, who heads the pro-settler Bayit Yehudi party, also criticized American bridging proposals regarding the future of the Jordan Valley. According to Bennett, the suggestion that unmanned aerial vehicles, sensors, and sophisticated electronic surveillance equipment along Israel’s eastern border could adequately replace a physical IDF presence there to make way for a Palestinian state was “an unrealistic idea.”
In his interview with Israel Radio, Bennett reiterated his call for the annexation of Area C (the areas in the West Bank under Israeli civilian and military control) as well as other swaths of Judea and Samaria.
The Palestinians, Bennett told Israel Radio, could maintain autonomous rule in Areas A and B, but without any defense or security rights accorded to world governments.
Likud MK Tzachi Hanegbi, a key ally of Prime Minister Binyamin Netanyahu, told Israel Radio on Tuesday that the Palestinians were opposed to American efforts to draw up a draft paper detailing the progress made in the negotiations on the so-called “core issues” and which would serve as a basis for the continuation of talks.
Hanegbi told Israel Radio that he views Abbas’ entrenchment in the oft-stated positions regarding Jerusalem, the right of return, and recognition of Israel as a Jewish state paints him as “refusing to make peace.”
Abbas on Saturday reaffirmed his refusal to recognize Israel as a Jewish state.
He also stressed that the Palestinians would not accept any solution that did not include east Jerusalem as the capital of a Palestinian state.
“We don’t love death, but we welcome martyrdom if it happens,” Abbas declared. “We will march to Jerusalem in the millions, as free people and heroes.”
Referring to Israeli demands to recognize Israel as a Jewish state, Abbas said, “This is a story that we have heard only in the last two years. We won’t recognize and accept the Jewishness of Israel. We have many excuses and reasons that prevent us from doing so.”
Abbas was speaking during a meeting in his office with dozens of east Jerusalem residents.Israel’s problem is that the Palestinians know more than the Israelis about history and geography, he said.
“We talk about what we know,” he said.”We won’t accept the Jewishness of Israel. We are asking for the 1967 borders.”
Labor MK Eitan Cabel, meanwhile, said that while the Arab League and the Palestinians were “not exactly lovers of Zion,” Israel “ought to ask itself what is in its best interests.”
The lawmaker told Israel Radio that it appeared the government and the Palestinians were less preoccupied with making progress in talks and more concerned with deflecting blame to the other side once the negotiations are deemed a failure.
Netanyahu to Biden: Abbas Doesn’t Want Peace
Prime Minister Binyamin Netanyahu told visiting U.S. Vice President Joe Biden on Monday that recent comments by Palestinian Authority (PA) Chairman Mahmoud Abbas were proof that he does not want peace.
According to Kol Yisrael radio, Netanyahu made the comments during his dinner meeting with Biden at the Prime Minister’s Residence on Monday night.
Netanyahu reportedly complained to Biden about Abbas’s comments on Saturday, in which he said that there will be no peace with Israel unless all his preconditions are met.
These comments, Netanyahu told Biden, were proof that Abbas is not prepared to make the necessary decisions that would bring about peace.
Abbas told a delegation on Saturday that there will be “no peace between us and Israel” without eastern Jerusalem as the capital of the future Palestinian state.
Abbas added that he heard that the Israelis had refused to mention Jerusalem in any talks or negotiations.
“Let them say whatever they say. Unless it is mentioned clearly and marked in big fonts that it is the capital of the state of Palestine, there will be no peace with them and I want them to hear this,” he declared.
“Our language is understandable. We have been hearing lots of talks about the capital here and there. The capital is Jerusalem and its surroundings in Jerusalem which were occupied in 1967,” he said, highlighting that he is adhering to a stance that has long been official policy.
“We have a right even though we are weak in the world. We will continue to demand our rights and we will realize them,” said Abbas.
The comments are nothing new, as the PA Chairman has repeatedly stressed that unless all his demands are met, there will be no peace with Israel.
Netanyahu’s meeting with Biden on Monday came after Biden with President Shimon Peres.
During that meeting, Biden called on Israel to “seize the moment” and reach an agreement with the PA.
“The one place (in the region) where there’s a possibility for an island of stability … is between the Palestinian people and the Israeli people, in two secure states respecting one another’s sovereignty and security,” Biden told Peres.
“And the president believes and I believe that this is one of those opportunities, one of those moments in history where it has to be seized,” he added.
Biden admitted there were some “very difficult decisions” ahead, but expressed confidence that Netanyahu was “up to” the task and expressed hope that the same was true of Abbas.
@ honeybee:
Yup, you’re just too profound for me, lady.
So tell me, what is “syllogistic mating”?
dweller Said:
Poor baby!!,but you do try!!!!!!!!!!!
@ honeybee:
You lost me a while ago.
— No idea what you’re talking about.
dweller Said:
I t would require one to be very adgile!!!!!!!!!
@ honeybee:
What about it?
dweller Said:
What about syllogistic mating????????? Wise guy
@ yamit82:
I occasionally find little to quarrel with in a post of yours too.
Does that make YoursTruly and PresentCompany “like-minded, kindred clones” also?
Syllogistic reasoning is the stuff of demagoguerie.
@ wpapke:
Like porcupines mate,very carefully
If the meeting was closed how did Shiffer report on it without a sanctioned “leak”?
yamit82 Said:
The game begins!!!
comment to Mike Wise in moderation.
@ mikewise:
It is often forgotten that the State of Israel exists today as a Jewish nation-state due, in large part, to the razing of some 400 hostile Arab villages and the dispersal (by a combination of flight and expulsion) of their inhabitants during Israel’s 1948 War of Independence. This draconian course of action was initiated by the embryonic Jewish armed forces only after it had become clear that neither appeasement nor sporadic military pressure would remove the existential threat posed to Israel by hundreds of thousands of irredentist Arabs (and their future progeny, presently numbering in the millions). In short, Israel is a safer place for the Jewish people because Sheikh Munis is now Ramat Aviv!!!!!
A government which refuses to place the safety of its citizens above diplomatic and economic considerations — weighty though they may be — forfeits its raison d’etre.
yamit82 Said:
Oh Thou of little humor,geting old there Yamit82!!!!!
dweller Said:
Finally you admit you and CA are two like minded kindred clones. Tweedledee & Tweedledum Guess who is Tweedledum?
Settler’s racy Miley Cyrus vids can’t stop
Orit Arfa takes off her clothes, and takes on the 2005 Gaza disengagement, in new parody of ‘Wrecking Ball’
As far as settler activists go, Orit Arfa is something of an oddball. Unlike most of her peers — at least as they’re portrayed in the media — the Ariel resident is secular, and she isn’t shy about showing some skin if it’ll help her get the word out. She’s also chosen what feels like an oddly specialized medium through which to channel her activism: the Miley Cyrus parody video.
Pro-settler video parodies Miley
American-Israeli Ariel resident Orit Arfa turns Cyrus’s ‘We can’t stop’ into ‘Jews can’t stop’
Can a homemade Miley Cyrus parody video showing young women gyrating on tractors, pole dancing on street signs, writhing on hillsides and licking stones help the Israeli settler cause?
@ yamit82:
@ yamit82:
Why Defense Minister Moshe Ya’alon is right
yamit82 Said:
He looks as sick as I felt when I heard those insane words coming out of Sharons mouth.
@ CuriousAmerican:
I find very little in your post to quarrel with.
yamit82 Said:
You don’t mean My Lord Kerry.Duke of Heintz Catsup.
yamit82 Said:
Are you talking about the mid=eat or our flea market trip
US unsatisfied with Ya’alon apology, wants public endorsement of Kerry
Ya’alon issued a statement Tuesday afternoon saying, “The US is our greatest friend and most important ally, and when there are divisions we smooth them over inside the room [behind closed doors], including with Secretary of State Kerry.”
In a rare rebuke, the US State Department called the comments “offensive and inappropriate.”
Netanyahu also came to Kerry’s defense earlier on Tuesday, saying “even when we have disagreements with the US, they are always on the heart of the matter, not on the merits of an individual.”
Ya’alon criticized for reportedly calling Kerry ‘obsessive, messianic’
Defense minister quoted by Yedioth Ahronoth as saying Kerry “should take his Nobel and leave us alone.”
“The only thing that can ‘save’ us is for John Kerry to win his Nobel Prize and leave us alone,” the defense minister reportedly said.
@ bernard ross:
Look at BB’s expression: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=shgGvpkUMp4 I’d say he was in shock!!!
@ yamit82:
I bribed Ted,I’am sharing my wining with him!!!!!!
CuriousAmerican Said:
We should negotiate, We should attend the negotiations, say NO!!! and return home.
CuriousAmerican Said:
he was a christian Marxist. He knew when to retire before he was put out of his misery.
CuriousAmerican Said:
This for you is surprising?
CuriousAmerican Said:
That’s a very Zen as if anyone wants to agree with any others terms in conflict resolution?
It’s not a matter of what wants it’s a matter of raw power equilibrium.
placing honest and Palestinian in the same context is a classic example of an oxymoron.
Another comment in moderation that’ by my last count 6 moderation and 3-4 blocked by spammer. If on purpose why and if not why?
@ CuriousAmerican:
Looks like Sharon agreed with you.
Hey he’s dead. 🙂
Begin agreed with you.
he’s long dead too. 🙂
Rabin agreed with you.
He’s deader than hell. 🙂
Olmert agreed with you and he was rendered dead politically. 🙂
Barack agreed with you and lasted little more than two years a record for the shortest term of any PM. 🙂
Peres agreed with you and was beaten by a nobody called BB and thus limited to the worst damage he could inflict upon us. 🙁 🙂
Appears that till now all our leaders who agree with you have met unhappy endings. Still waiting for BB to meet a similar end unless he manages to turn it around?
mikewise Said:
Jabotinsky got it wrong on the Arabs and there is consensus on that. Herzl was forced by the eastern European Jews to to push for a Jewish State in Palestine as opposed to British colony in Kenya (not Uganda). He discounted the Arabs almost completely. Neither are my personal icons of true Zionism. The 20% already in Israel are too many and I reject even the addition of a single additional Arab and would push as by now a majority of Jewish Israelis (according to most recent polls) would be rid of those we have. Annexation of only part of Y&S means giving up on the rest. I am not prepared for such a concession. I support annexation of all of Y&S and transfer the rest according to Gandhi’s plan.
Neither is BB and was Sharon:
CuriousAmerican Said:
I beleive that the negotiation is a false concoction of the americans. That it is expected to fail but is meant to pass time. There is no reason to declare anything as all those with whom Israel deals tend to lie and swindle the Jews. Israel should do and let others figure it out and complain, no need to talk.
I believe it is that the optimum solution is to start with the annexation of C and an immediate and speedy massive settlement of Jews in C. Any criminals or troublemakers should be immediately sent to gaza as it is the most convenient and it is palestine de facto with no treaties unlike Jordan. If the UN,EU and arabs want to help them resettle or develop gaza they can do so. It is not Israels problem. Israels only problem is self delusional in that it is only a decision which must be made as follows:
1-no more pal or muslim states in the jewish homeland
2-no citizenship to arabs(most are stateless ex jordanians)
3-deportation to gaza starting with the militias, and PLO. only allow temporary non political autonomous administrations in the pal areas until most emigrate. Keep the pals restricted to A, B and Gaza only in movement. Gaza will develop and they will go there voluntarily for economic reasons. Any attacks from Gaza should whittle away some land from gaza. they can leave by boat.
Once Israel accepts annexation and no pal citizenship everything will fall in place. Israels only problem is itself and its fears of sanctions. No one will go to war with Israel that is not already at war and any war from a neighbor should be met with immediate annexation of conquered territory and the deportation of the residents. forget the GC as it has never been applied to jewish refugees from arab lands. As for sanctions just deport them to gaza as a reaction to sanctions. Syria and lebanon are also transfer locations as they have no treaties with Israel and there lands are easily accessible.
You may open an office in gaza for your resettlement program. The pals are of no consequence and Israel should make decisions for Israel and the Pals can make their own decisions as they encounter a new reality.
@ yamit82:
a little arithmetic.
ending statelessness in JUDEA is not tantamount to creating a bi-national state. it does not increase the number of arabs in greenline israel plus Judea. ending martial law and imposing civil jurisdiction is not a call for a bi-national state. a 67% jewish majority (and growing) is well within jabotinsky’s agenda. herzl would be shocked to know that there was a Jewish state with over 6.3 million jews! go back and study the Zionist dream. you can be rest assured that martin Schlaff, Tzipi Livni, ehud barak, Olmert and Abu Mazzin do not represent the Zionist dream.
do not be so pessimistic and defeatist. stand up for your rights and stop whining and hiding. 6.3 million Jews will be unassailable.
mikewise Said:
I think you need a dose of realism more than most commenters here.
I never knew till you spelled it out that having a bi-national state with several million enemies that hate us was the Zionist dream.
It isn’t the biblical one either.
You have given an interesting post Zionist understanding for the raison d’être for the Jewish State.
@ NormanF:
My comment was really rhetorical. Of course, Abbas cannot make peace with Israel but does Biden know that- that Abbas is not up to the task even, as you said, if he wanted to. I think it’s a good idea to redirect Biden’s manipulative language back at him and stop all the ridiculous smiling. Someone ought to buy the members of the GOI the book The Verbal Art of Self Defense.
looks like bennett and glick understand that annexation is more sensible than sitting on one’s hands and waiting for humanity!!
annexation merely changes the legal status of Judea’s Arabs from stateless to residents of Israel. one day, some of them will qualify for citizenship under our minister of citizenship MS or CG.
indeed annexation will reduce the number of Arabs west of the Jordan. criminals will need to find new addresses. maybe Gaza will open its doors. or back to Tunisia and the Arab spring.
it will also prevent the “return” of millions of Arabs from the “diaspora”.
once the TSS is laid to rest, the game will change and the vast majority of the Arabs in JUDEA will want to participate in the new ISRAEL.
acting with resolve will finally earn some global respect for the “illegitimate Zionist entity”.
eventually the vast majority will assimilate. especially when Israel becomes a major energy producer on top of its technology boom!
of course, some purely secular and religious Canaanites like AB yehoshua will go back to Europe and stop causing so much trouble.
they can devote themselves to equal rights for all in the euro community. starting with Sweden!
yaalon correctly branded kerry as messianic.
let’s all be as realistic as possible and not attack each other foolishly.
Go home and stay home Biden and Kerry.
David Chase Said:
Its the moment Obama and company need to sieze!!!!!! They are not looking to good lately!
NormanF Said:
Ever seen a coyote chase a rabbit?? The rabbit suns the coyote around a bush until the coyote is exhasted and leaves the game.
David Chase Said:
Abu Bluff by a law of 2008 cannot make peace with Israel even if he wanted to. He cannot give up extremist Arab core demands without being accused of committing high treason. No Palestinian Arab leader has a mandate to make peace. Abu Bluff has no intention of negotiating or reaching a compromise peace deal with Israel. That should be clear by now. The Americans are wasting every one’s time looking for an elusive “framework” formula that will never happen. Its time to put a definite end to a dangerous charade liable to fatally harm the Jewish State!
Why is Israel continuing to stay in the pretend peace talks with the PLO?
The other side is only interested in securing Israeli concessions to advance the destruction of Israel. Its not interested in peace.
Drawing out the talks do not serve Israel’s interests. The price for pulling out now would be painful but Israel is going to be blamed anyway for their failure.
National survival is far more important than avoiding offending Obama and Kerry. Let them go to hell.
And if Israel’s leaders do not change course, the national ignominy Sharon experienced will look good to them!
Kerry gets A+ for perseverance. Since his successful push (ie. by forcing Israeli concessions) for Israeli Palestinian peace talks to start last July, Kerry is now on his 13th visit to the region to push and steer those discussions forward. Kerry makes side trips of course to various regional and EU leaders to gain whatever support he can for his resolute peace mission.
For instance, Kerry met in Paris last week for the 3rd time with Arab foreign ministers of Bahrain, the UAE, Saudi Arabia, Qatar, Kuwait, Egypt, Morocco and Iraq’s PM Maliki to drum up support for his peace initiative. No doubt patting him on the back for his efforts as do Kerry’s EU friends and allies on his visits to them, the Arab group of foreign ministers back handed Kerry a unified message that they were behind well known Palestinian intractable positions such as peace must be based on 1967 armistice lines, right of return, no recognition of Israel as a Jewish state and East Jerusalem is the Palestinian capital.
http://www.timesofisrael.com/kerry-holds-confab-with-arab-diplomats-to-discuss-peace-iniative/
Undeterred by and refusing to make a course correction for reality as it pounds in on him, you have to wonder whether Kerry is on the same anti-reality meds his lord and master Obama is on or whether, he like Obama was just born that way.
Abbas does not want peace. Not on Israel’s terms.
Israel wisely does not want to give the Palestinians an open border. Israel insists on the right to determine who gets to enter and leave Area A. In other words, the Palestinians could not even tender residency to others from Gaza. Israel would control Area A residency and birth registration.
All of this is wise, from Israel’s point of view. I am not in favor of a two state solution.
But it is not much of “independence” or even “autonomy” to the Palestinians.
Wise?! Yes! It protects Israel. Which for this board is the only thing that matters.
However, to the Palestinians, there are other things that matter – even if they do not matter to the crew on Israpundit.
I doubt any honest national leader of any nation, anywhere would accept terms that would essentially keeps his people consigned to reservations under a sort of military law – and that is all that Israel can safely offer.
The minimum an Arab leader could accept is far more than Israel could safely give.
Let’s be honest.
What if Israel got rid of Abbas?
Would Israel offer an honest Palestinian leader an open border with Jordan? No! Of course not! That would be insane.
Would Israel let the Palestinians issue residency to Gazans? No! Of course not! That would be insane.
Would Israel let the Palestinians have water and resource rights? No! Of course not! That would be insane.
Would Israel surrender the Jordan Valley? No! Of course not! That would be insane?
Would Israel let the Palestinians have their own airport? No! Of course not! That would be insane?
So even if an honest Palestinian leader came along who wanted peace, what could Israel offer him that would be attractive?
Any package which Israel could safely offer would, of necessity, be so stern as to be unpalatable even to an honest Palestinian leader. Especially to an honest Palestinian leader! Abbas is crooked, so he can be bribed. An honest Palestinian leader would actually be harder to bargain with.
This hypothetical Palestinian leader would have to sell Israel’s offer to his own people. What could you offer this honest leader that he could present to his people?
This board here honestly feels that every inch of Judea and Samaria is sacred Jewish property. None of it should be disposed. Okay!
Let’s start with that view. All of Judea and Samaria is sacred.
So what is left to bargain with the Palestinians. You can’t offer them anything.
Peace is impossible.
Neither can Israel safely offer peace. Israel can only safely offer terms that amount to surrender for the Palestinians.
I have no problem if Israel wants victory. Perhaps Israel should be more firm about it than it is.
But don’t call it a peace negotiation.
What Israel really wants is the Palestinians to surrender and leave.
Israel wants victory. The terms Israel offers Abbas are terms that offer only a vitiated reservation. Essentially victory for Israel. The Palestinians get to keep their clothes and live in a militarily controlled bordered area. Essentially a reservation, even if that word is not palatable.
Yes, militarily controlled! Netanyahu insists on the right to intervene militarily in Area A when Israel wants. Wisely! It is necessary for Israel’s safety; but it belies any pretense that the reservations are even autonomous.
I do NOT ask you to surrender Judea and Samaria – so I am not upset. I am not saying Israel should offer any more.
But, what amazes me is that anyone wonders why the Palestinians would object to surrender and departure. Even if one supports Israel, one has to appreciate that the Palestinian predicament is awful, and not palatable.
Israel is not offering peace – NOR SHOULD ISRAEL OFFER PEACE – Israel is offering terms of surrender.
Even an honest Palestinian leadership – especially an honest Palestinian leadership – would not accept it.
As bad as Abbas is – he is not the problem.
There was one Palestinian leader who was reasonably honest. The Arabs called him, ‘the incorruptible.’ He was also ruthlessly militant.
George Habash.
Believe it or not, an honest Palestinian leadership would be worse to deal with.
An honest Palestinians leader would be more difficult to deal with.
What you are really saying is that Abbas will not surrender.
Israel should end the pretense.
Neither side wants peace. Both sides want victory. Be honest.
If you want victory, do not even negotiate.
Can someone please ask Biden what the “moment” is that we need to seize. I also haven’t figured out why we don’t quote the previously seized moments of Oslo calling for no preconditions for negotiations AND for the Palestinians to change their charter calling for Israel’s destruction. As far as I know, and I’m sure I’m correct, that still hasn’t been done. That doesn’t even call for recognition of Israel as a Jewish state. The moment we should seize now is to point that out to Biden while he is still here and to ask him straight out why he doesn’t seize the moment himself to tell Abbas that he is up to the task of doing so.