The White House is sending Secretary of State John Kerry to speak at the American Israel Public Affairs Committee megaconference in Washington beginning Sunday.
Also sent will be Treasury Secretary Jack Lew. Together the two are expected to explain the Iran deal and the sanctions relief that has peaked the ire and concern of so many.
Kerry is also expected to talk about his attempt to forge a Mideast peace deal.
He drew criticism in recent weeks for his comments about the price Israel would pay if it didn’t acquiesce to the U.S. peace process. “You see, for Israel there’s an increasing delegitimization campaign that has been building up,” Kerry said. “People are very sensitive to it. There are talk of boycotts and other kinds of things. Are we all going to be better with all of that?”
The chief Palestinian negotiator told Al-Jazeera last week that things will get “ugly” if a Mideast peace deal isn’t reached by April and warned that the Palestinian Authority — which already controls only half of the two Palestinian territories — could crumble. “Number one…I cannot accept Israel as a Jewish state,” Saeb Erakat said. “Number two: I cannot accept any document without East Jerusalem being the capital of Palestine.”
Last year, Vice President Joe Biden was sent by the White House to talk to the conference. President Obama spoke the year he was seeking re-election.
Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu is coming to D.C. to address the conference and to meet with Obama on March 3.
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