For the Record: Jared Kushner - "They've Screwed Up"

Excerpted from his CNN interview with Christiane Amanpour

"...And so the question then comes down to the Palestinian leadership. Right? They've been saying that they're victims for a long time.

They're doing fine. There's been a lot of corruption, a lot of mismanaged funds. You know, a lot of the leadership is great. They're rich, their friends are rich, their families are rich. But the Palestinian people have been stuck in this cycle.

So the question for the international world is, are we going to continue to tolerate this. But what we've now put together for them is a real offer on the table. You talk about the borders -- right now under this plan that we've proposed, they can double the size of the land that they have available. They can have $50 billion of investment, which will lead to over a million Palestinian good-paying jobs. It could double the size of their GDP.

So again, what I've been fighting against is an illogical construct created by people who had no interest in solving a problem. And what we've tried to do is attack that by putting out a very detailed, logical solution...

...you're going to see more and more pressure put on Palestinian leadership to do it.

What we've -- look, right now, what's Palestinian leadership? You're talking about them like they're great diplomats. What are they calling for? They're calling for a day of rage. Who do you know that runs a state that when they don't get what they want they call for a day of rage? That's not how people who are capable of running a state work.


So again, the Palestinian leadership have to ask themselves a question, do they want to have a state, do they want to have a better life. If they do, we have created a framework for them to have it and we're going to treat them in a very respectful manner. If they don't, then they're going to screw up another opportunity like they've screwed up every opportunity that they've ever had in their existence. 

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Amanapour: Netanyahu is Trump's "Director"

Yesterday, after catching CNN's Christiane Amanpour's interview with Ben Rhodes, I tweeted this:

@camanpour on @cnni chooses anti-semitic trope, asking @brhodes if @netanyahu "directs US MidEast policy". Rhodes chooses "drives".And later adds "Is Bibi egging on Trump" re: Putin and Syria and Rhodes adds "Ukraine".

From the transcript:-

AMANPOUR: You know President Obama didn't have a very good personal relationship with Prime Minister Netanyahu. Now Prime Minister Netanyahu is thrilled to bits because he thinks he has his...

RHODES: Yes.

AMANPOUR: ...ally in the White House. Do you see this Middle East policy being directed by the Israeli Prime Minister?

RHODES: I think the two most important people in American Middle East policy are Mohammad bin Salman and Bibi Netanyahu. I...

AMANPOUR: The Crown Prince of Saudi Arabia?

RHODES: The Crown Prince of Saudi Arabia and the Prime Minister of Israel. I think they are driving this.

And later, there is this (edited for length):-

AMANPOUR: You just mentioned President Putin. The next big meeting is going to be between President Trump and President Putin...There's all sorts of expectations...One of them suggest that President Trump, egged on by Bibi Netanyahu and the Saudis, are going to try to ask Putin to get Iran out of Syria in return for America allowing Assad to stay in place. 

...RHODES: Yes. Yes. And potentially, some recognition of Crimea .

AMANPOUR: Recognition of Crimea as well. 

I erred on "Ukraine".  But that's all.

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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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