Tuesday, January 17, 2017

Kerry's CNN For the Record with Amanpour

On CNN with London-born, Muslim-raised and Teheran-educated (more on this later) Christiane Amanpour:

QUESTION: I want to stay in the Middle East. You did so much shuttle diplomacy. Basically, yet another administration has not brought peace between the Palestinians and the Israelis.

SECRETARY KERRY: Yeah, I --

QUESTION: Donald Trump says this is going to be his priority and that his son-in-law Jared Kushner, who is an Orthodox Jew, will be a great negotiator and make a peace deal.

While it is fair to note that Kushner is an Orthodox Jew, to make sure we're fair all around, I thought to note Amanpour's personal background as well. In fact, we can add that she is married to a Jew by birth, American James Rubin.

To continue:

SECRETARY KERRY: Well, more power to them if they can do that, Christiane. But you have to have a theory of how you’re going to do that and what compromises are going to be made to do it. I assure you --

QUESTION: Were you wrong about the settlements and --

Now if I was the interviewer, I'd ask Mr. Kerry: "what compromises to you expect the Palestinian Authority to make?  Territories, because isn't the game "territorial compromise"?  

Or, perhaps, the PA needs to fulfill commitments they signed in previous agreements that until today that have not fully carried out?

More:

SECRETARY KERRY: I assure you – let me just make this so clear – that when you say another administration has failed to do this – no, no. The leaders of the two countries involved – one country and one entity, the Palestinian Authority – have failed to come to the table and reach agreement. You know the old saying – you can lead a horse to water, you can’t make it drink. Now, we did a lot of leading to a lot of water, but people decided they weren’t ready for one reason or another to move. Now --

QUESTION: And one reason or another is what you described --

SECRETARY KERRY: And that is one of the reasons why we at the United Nations made the decision we made, because we believe that Israel has a major choice and the Palestinians have a major choice. The choice we put to Israel is if you want to be a Jewish state and you want to be a democracy, you cannot be a unitary state. And right now, they’re marching down the road, because of the increased settlements, because of the absence of a legitimate negotiation, towards that possibility. And all we’re trying to do --

Why not ask: "well, why can't they be a 'unitary state'? Are you sure the demographics are negative?"


QUESTION: So you said --

SECRETARY KERRY: -- is speak as a good, good, solid best friend of Israel. And we’ve done more for this government, more for Israel, than any other administration with the Iron Dome and the $38 billion --

QUESTION: Do you think they’re ungrateful? Do you think Prime Minister Netanyahu is ungrateful?

SECRETARY KERRY: No, I’m not characterizing it in any way whatsoever except to say that it – we speak out of a caring and concern for Israel as a democratic and Jewish state, and we also speak out of concern for the Palestinians, who will not be able to satisfy their aspirations ever without the ability to be able to create a state. So both have a huge interest in being able to move this forward, and we wish the administration coming in all the luck in the world if they find a different formula that will actually work. But I will be stunned if the Arab world writ large and the Palestinians in particular – because everybody has said the parties have to arrive at an agreement – I guarantee you the Palestinians are not going to agree to less than a state based on 1967 lines with swaps. They’re just not going to do that.

Did she do a follow-up and ask: if the end is a state based on the 1967 lines with swaps, what compromise is that? After all, they started the 1967 war with the terror campaign of the PLO beginning on January 1, 1965? 

Did she ask him about Israel and Iran?

No, she didn't.

Another empty Amanpour interview.

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