The former Israeli ambassador to Washington and deputy foreign minister charged that the leaked tape of Secretary of State John Kerry warning of an apartheid state was all orchestrated:
Kerry’s “leak” is neither innocent nor coincidental, and its main purpose is to apply pressure on Israel. Kerry… http://t.co/tvRLaqUCVu
— Danny Ayalon (@DannyAyalon) April 29, 2014
“A two-state solution will be clearly underscored as the only real alternative. Because a unitary state winds up either being an apartheid state with second-class citizens—or it ends up being a state that destroys the capacity of Israel to be a Jewish state,” Kerry told the Trilateral Commission in a recording obtained by the Daily Beast.
Kerry issued a statement last night saying he would “not allow my commitment to Israel to be questioned by anyone, particularly for partisan, political purposes.”
“I have been around long enough to also know the power of words to create a misimpression, even when unintentional, and if I could rewind the tape, I would have chosen a different word to describe my firm belief that the only way in the long term to have a Jewish state and two nations and two peoples living side by side in peace and security is through a two state solution,” he said.
On the Senate floor yesterday, Ted Cruz (R-Texas) called for Kerry’s resignation.
“John Kerry’s non-apology is completely inadequate,” Sen. David Vitter (R-La.) said this morning. “He’s clearly part of the blame Israel first crowd. To use the word ‘apartheid’ regarding the only nation in the Middle East that offers Arab citizens full, robust rights and freedoms is outrageous.”
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