Patterico's Pontifications

4/29/2014

John Kerry Apologizes for Israel “Apartheid” Remark

Filed under: General — Patterico @ 7:32 am



John Kerry is now apologizing for the following remarks:

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.

So: is he right, or is he wrong?

Look: I love jumping on John Kerry as much as the next guy. But for some on the right, the topic of Israel is treated the way race is treated by the left: there is a very narrow category of allowable discussion, and Heaven help you if you make a remark that falls outside that range.

He didn’t say Israel is an apartheid state. (And, clearly, it’s not. It’s a democracy in which the same laws apply to all.) He said what he said.

I’m not saying he’s right. In fact, I tend to think he’s not.

I’m saying: can we have a discussion about whether he’s right — and, if not, why not? — without the sort of hissing and finger-pointing that the left does on race issues?

57 Responses to “John Kerry Apologizes for Israel “Apartheid” Remark”

  1. Ding.

    Patterico (9c670f)

  2. I didn’t invent the nickname of “Lurch” for John Kerry, but it fits so well. The man is simply an easy target.

    Bar Sinister (b48c12)

  3. I believe the US is more of a “Christian State” (for the last 200+ years) than Israel is a “Jewish State” (percentage of majority religion vs rest of population).

    A two state solution will guaranty that the world will end up with one apartheid state with second-class citizens and Israel.

    I don’t know what would be the ideal solution over there… One side wants to the exterminate the other side (based on religious membership). The other side (more or less) wants to be left alone.

    How do you “negotiate” a common solution that does not result in the elimination of one of the “two states”.

    Not to say that Israel and its Jewish citizenry have been clean as the wind driven snow (they have not)–But the other “final solution” has proven to be really bad for entire populations of countries/regions.

    BfC (8661e2)

  4. It’s a blood libel to suggest such a thing, this is what the New America foundation has been putting forth, it’s what help prompt the Palm Sunday killer,

    narciso (3fec35)

  5. Let’s talk context since everybody always claims it is so important.

    Wasn’t Senator Easter Island Face Aristoslacker attempting to blame Israel for the breakdown in peace talks once again with his language after the unification talks between Hamas and Fatah were announced? Does that make any sense?

    daleyrocks (bf33e9)

  6. Yes the Free Beacon had a piece on that, J Street,
    who Secretary Poo is a fan off, it’s enemy action,

    narciso (3fec35)

  7. I agree with Patterico. He was outlining what might be the farthest a unitary state could go. He did not say Israel was apartheid.

    That being said, this sound bite will now be repeated over and over to indicate that the US SoS thinks Israel is an apartheid state.

    Our country’s in the best of hands. 😉

    Patricia (be0117)

  8. He’s wrong, because we have a one-state situation now and Palestinians have full rights in Israel. There is no reason to believe that would change.

    On the other hand, if it was one Palestinian state, it would change overnight.

    He’s not just wrong, he’s backwards. Giving the Palestinians their state, which is his objective, would create an apartheid state.

    Amphipolis (d3e04f)

  9. Kerry is a point against a Yale education.

    Mike K (cd7278)

  10. Greetings:

    Speaking of, and I’m quoting, “without the sort of hissing and finger-pointing that the left does on race issues?”, I found it interesting that Kareem Abdul Jabbar surfaced long enough to insert himself and his wisdom into the NBA’s current travails in that regard.

    Of course, self-awareness was never one of Mr. Jabbar’s claims to fame, but I was regrettably amused that a believer in Islamania, with all the kind things that that religion says about “kuffars” and “Jews” and “Christians” and “pagans” and women and the sexually dysfunctional and its basically supremacist ideology can be turned to to pronounce on the vagaries of human behavior.

    Welcome to 21st Century America. Enjoy!

    11B40 (6abb5c)

  11. John Forbes Kerry has been delusional about his supposed diplomacy skills. Kerry likely got a dishonorable discharge from the Navy for his diplomatic outreach to our enemy at the time North Vietnam in Paris. Forbes Kerry certainly had no problems slandering American Fighting Men with his lies about their conduce in Johnson’s Southeast Asian War Games.

    I don’t know if Forbes Kerry honestly believes he can solve the animosity in the Holy Land dating back to Biblical times or just wants a Nobel Peace Prize nobody what the cost in human lives.

    Forbes Kerry simply lacks the experience, judgment and temperament to serve as Secretary of State. Had we a President with fortitude, Forbes Kerry would drummed out of the administration, as he was the Navy.

    David Lentz (be9e6c)

  12. Here’s my favorite part of the NYT article:

    Speaking to a closed-door meeting of the Trilateral Commission last week, Mr. Kerry said that if a Middle East peace agreement was not achieved, Israel risked becoming an “apartheid state,” according to an article in The Daily Beast, an online publication.

    I only wish they had the guts to write, “. . . according to an article in The Daily Beast, which used to be the venerable weekly magazine Newsweek until they had to go and become a sounding board for trendy left-wing thought, thereby ensuring their slow and steady demise over a 40-year period.”

    JVW (9946b6)

  13. Kerry’s statement makes him the leader in the clubhouse for the next Nobel Piece of shit prize.

    mg (31009b)

  14. John Kerry, like his predecessor at the job, is SoS only because – by comparison – he makes the President look good.
    With that standard, there are not too many layers left before the bottom of the barrel is exposed.

    askeptic (8ecc78)

  15. Career Vietnam Veteran Kerry is only annoyed that news of the contents of his remarks leaked out. Their potential damage explain his lengthy apology and long-winded recital of how he has stood up for U.S.-Israeli relations over time rather than the more typical and terse “my words were taken out of context” explanation.

    daleyrocks (bf33e9)

  16. What Kerry said was simply conventional wisdom in an uncomfortable form.

    Israel has a small Arab minority, which enjoys full civil rights without affecting the character of Israel as a “Jewish country”.

    The CW is that the Arab population of (Israel+the territories) is about equal to the Jewish population – therefore a unitary state would not be a “Jewish country”, unless the Arabs were disfranchised as blacks were in South Africa.

    This CW is generally accepted in Israel, which is why almost no Israelis want to annex the territories.

    (The CW is strongly questioned by Caroline Glick in
    The Israeli Solution: A One-State Plan for Peace
    ; she argues that the number of Palestinian Arabs has been greatly exaggerated.)

    Rich Rostrom (fcf334)

  17. this is the “smart diplomacy” they always yammer on and on about.

    JD (5c1832)

  18. Carney was involved in the Benghazi coverup;

    narciso (3fec35)

  19. he’s not very good at this but at least he’s out of the senate

    happyfeet (8ce051)

  20. A gaffe is when a politician says what he really thinks, and it turns out that people believe what he thinks is actually appalling. Kerry isn’t outside of the mainstream of liberal thought on Israel, as evidenced by the fact that his spokesman referenced The Daily Kos and ThinkProgress to support Kerry’s comments. The entire administration is anti Israel.

    If the American people disagree, then the solution isn’t a public apology by John Kerry. The solution is to elect only conservative Republicans, or at a minimum, Democrats who support Israel (they do exist), and turn this administration out on its ear.

    Brent Glines (5fab10)

  21. As many have pointed out, the so-called Palestinians refuse to aver that they will accept Israel as a legitimate state. How can there be any kind of agreement ever when one side rejects an essential structure of any agreement possible?

    Fred Beloit (2e7f95)

  22. narciso – But what about the Sooper Sekrit intelligence?

    daleyrocks (bf33e9)

  23. Career Vietnam Veteran Kerry is only annoyed that news of the contents of his remarks leaked out. Their potential damage explain his lengthy apology and long-winded recital of how he has stood up for U.S.-Israeli relations over time rather than the more typical and terse “my words were taken out of context” explanation.

    I’m sure Secretary Lurch is just scandalized that his off-the-cuff remark to the Trilateral Commission is leaked to reporters. To him and his ilk that is probably some major betrayal of the ruling class and un manque de tact et tres vulgaire.

    JVW (9946b6)

  24. even babs boxer told him he needed to shut his stupid piehole

    that’s really remarkable cause she’s an even bigger fascist slut than he is

    happyfeet (8ce051)

  25. C’mon. It’s not like the Secretary of State of the United States has to watch what he says or anything.

    CrustyB (69f730)

  26. This is the idea of what would happen if Israel incorporates territory.

    The idea being either the Arabs there would be citizens of the state of Israel or they would not.

    If they are not citizens, it is an “apartheid state” (which is wrong since South Africa did not allow any blacks to be full fledged citizens) and if they did then it wouldn’t be Jewish.

    So goes the argument. It’s not really about the current state of affairs, except that it pretends that the status quo cannot continue.

    Usually in making this argument, they combine the West Bank and Gaza, but nobody in Israel is interested in annexing the Gaza Strip. Most in Israel, if they think about it, are probably looking for some friendly government to take over the Gaza Strip, but nobody wants it.

    Inside Israel, they usually talk about only the area between the Jordan Rover and the sea. The argument is there wouldn’t be a Jewish majority. It happens to be fallacious, based on current population, because the Arab birth rate is dropping.

    It also ignores that one idea is to offer citizenship but hope it not many would take it up, as many Arabs in Jerusalem do not (although there are many Arabs anxious to live within the borders of Jerusalem and the Jewish state, to the point that many unsafe buildings have been built in the section of Jerusalem on the other side of the “wall” where developers are king.

    Building permits are not granted, water and electricity is siphoned off and not paid for, and neither are most taxes, crime rises and police are afraid to go there and ask for people to photograph damage or go to a checkpoint, utility workers don’t go there because there is no escort, water pressure drops and facilities are not expanded because there is no money in the budget for it and nothing is being paid, but banks make loans to developers, and the presence of the people there is recognized also in some other ways – residents have sued in Israeli courts but none of them have active utility accounts – and so they don’t get anything – and politics of various kinds prevents anything being done about the situation either way.

    There are proposals to swap territory, but, really, nobody wants to be swapped outside of Israel.

    You do have the issue of the descendants of the refugees, who, outside of Jordan, have never been recognized as citizens of the place they reside (mainly Lebanon)

    Sammy Finkelman (d22d64)

  27. Offer to buy their land, and help with relocation cost to whatever country will have them.

    askeptic (8ecc78)

  28. The specific problem with his remarks was his use of the loaded word “apartheid”. He could have made the same point, using non-inflammatory words, and there would have been nary a peep.

    Mark Johnson (df77f2)

  29. Comment by BfC (8661e2) — 4/29/2014 @ 7:56 am

    A two state solution will guaranty that the world will end up with one apartheid state with second-class citizens and Israel.

    No, the Arab state is to be “Judenrein.” And if some Jews did stay there, their lives would not be safe.

    I don’t know what would be the ideal solution over there…

    The Arabs have to go through a 12-step program. As I once wrote, only slightly in jest:

    5. Made a searching and fearless moral inventory of ourselves.

    6. Admitted to foreigners, to ourselves, to another human being close to us, and finally to God, the exact nature of our wrongs.

    7. Were entirely ready to have God remove all these defects of character and humbly asked Him to remove our shortcomings.

    8. Made a list of all persons we had harmed, and became willing to make amends to them all.

    WARNING: DO NOT COMMENCE NEGOTIATIONS BEFORE THIS POINT!!

    Sammy Finkelman (d22d64)

  30. One side wants to the exterminate the other side (based on religious membership). The other side (more or less) wants to be left alone.

    How do you “negotiate” a common solution that does not result in the elimination of one of the “two states”.

    A. You don’t.

    But it turns out Abbas found it necessary to assure his financial backers in the Arab world that he wouldn’t find a way to double-cross them and negotiate an agreement with Israel.

    Sammy Finkelman (d22d64)

  31. 22 Comment by daleyrocks (bf33e9) — 4/29/2014 @ 9:48 am

    narciso – But what about the Sooper Sekrit intelligence?

    Judicial Watch is ignoring it, although if they paid attention to all the documents they’d see that Rhodes throught that the truth, and that the idea came from the CIA.

    What the White House wanted to do was get
    the word out
    and counteract the “disinformation” that had previously been given about this being a planned attack.

    Sammy Finkelman (d22d64)

  32. By the way, there couldn’t be any confidence destroying measure any stronger than releaseing terrorists, and having them honored, but Kerry had that done. Mohammed Abbas had never promised to continue negotiations past the last prisoner release.

    There also couldn’t be anything more counterproductive to peace than to demonize Israel, since the demonization and the delegitimization of Israel is the root of the
    problem.

    Sammy Finkelman (d22d64)

  33. Those Arabs that chose to remain in Israel after the 1947 war are, in fact, citizens, participate in Israel’s government and have a seat in the Knesset.

    Those that chose to flee or fight including those abandoned by Jordan after the 1967 war the latter initiated and lost are sh!t out of luck.

    gary gulrud (e2cef3)

  34. I’m not inclined to grant the left much room for good faith disagreement on this when they’ve been more or less going “ho hum” to high public officials in Iran musing in public about Israel’s destruction while they tinker away at trying to develop nuclear weapons. Not to mention that they tolerate and even cheer the malicious meddling of Jimmy Carter, who *has* come right out and called Israel an apartheid state. Mr. Kerry can apologize all he likes, but it’s up to Israel to decide whether it is a credible apology, and I don’t trust this administration to not revisit this in a manner hostile to Israel.

    M. Scott Eiland (0f4188)

  35. Yes. That.

    JD (6a6c22)

  36. The status quo -is- a two-state solution. Israel and Jordan. That Jordan wants pseudo-state full of refugees between it and Israel seems to just be one of those things that can’t be noticed.

    htom (412a17)

  37. Jordan had their own problems with Chairman Arafat’s devoted followers a few years back.
    Quite a few of them had to pack up and leave; those that were still alive, that is.

    askeptic (8ecc78)

  38. If Israel would just disappear from the map, then everything would be cool.
    Or something.

    Elephant Stone (6a6f37)

  39. A two state solution is impossible; the “Palestinians” exist only as an excuse for the various Arab factions to undermine the Jewish State. No one purporting to speak for the Palestinians has ever honored any agreement with Israel for one moment longer than it was convenient for Israel’s enemies.

    Now one can argue whether the Arabs hatred of the Jews is justified, but the “Two State” solution will not be possible so long as one of the two factions that would make up those States exists expressly for the purpose of obliterating the other.

    C. S. P. Schofield (e8b801)

  40. If you like your windsurfing Secretary of State, then you can keep him.

    Elephant Stone (6a6f37)

  41. Breitbart is reporting Kerry “refuses to apologize”.

    IOW, wishing he’d chosen a different word meaning the same thing.

    Even resident evil considers him a hapless bust.

    gary gulrud (e2cef3)

  42. … It’s a democracy in which the same laws apply to all …

    What do you mean by this, that the laws favoring Jews apply to both Jews and Arabs?

    James B. Shearer (9233b4)

  43. yes, he was caught, gary, unlike Andrew Young, who entertained similar thoughts, thirty five years there is no penalty, the way the world works differently from HoC, Underwood’s first sacking is a pretensious Senator with like minded view, from getting the Foggy Bottom slot,

    narciso (3fec35)

  44. 8

    8.He’s wrong, because we have a one-state situation now and Palestinians have full rights in Israel …

    If you truly had a one-state situation now, the Palestinians in the occupied territories would be citizens of Israel which they aren’t. And the Arab citizens of Israel don’t have full rights.

    The Palestinians in the occupied territories are in a limbo being citizens of no country. This makes them worse off then blacks in apartheid South Africa who were citizens (although IIRC South Africa did make some efforts to split some them off into weak independent countries).

    Assuming it is wrong for the Palestinians to remain perpetually stateless there are basically three alternatives. They can become citizens of Israel, citizens of their own country or citizens of some other country like Jordan or Egypt. The third alternative seems like the lesser evil to me.

    James B. Shearer (9233b4)

  45. the status quo is tenable I think

    until Palestinians grow up and learn to behave at least

    happyfeet (8ce051)

  46. Where are we, 1993, that ship set sail long ago, now Gaza is a shining example of the wonderful world of Hamas,

    narciso (3fec35)

  47. Sometimes, after the Supreme Court has ruled on something, it is settled law, to be changed only by Executive fiat.

    JD (6a6c22)

  48. … until Palestinians grow up and learn to behave at least …

    If the Palestinians are children the Israelis are abusive parents.

    James B. Shearer (9233b4)

  49. no that is not true

    the Israelis are super-sweet and everything they do is done more in sadness than in anger

    Just all around class acts.

    As democracies go they have a lot more class and a a lot more clarity about who they are and what they believe than a tawdry crack-addict debtwhore state like failmerica.

    happyfeet (8ce051)

  50. “If the Palestinians are children the Israelis are abusive parents.”

    Get real Jimmy, the Israelis don’t teach their children to grow up to become suicide bombers.

    daleyrocks (bf33e9)

  51. But for some on the right, the topic of Israel is treated the way race is treated by the left:

    That’s a good point. But context is important, and people like Kerry treat the issue of Israel versus Palestine the same way they’ll often treat a victim of crime versus the perpetrator of crime. Simply put, ass-backwards, upside-down sympathies and sentiments.

    Regardless of one’s political slant — and there is a weird sect of rightwingers who despise Israel — it would be easier to have some sympathy towards the Palestinians if they could run a decent, stable society, where, for example, schools didn’t teach young children to dress up like terrorists and go out and shoot and bomb their prescribed enemies.

    Mark (59e5be)

  52. If the Palestinians are children the Israelis are abusive parents.

    And the Palestinians happen to be the brattiest, most incorrigible, most irresponsible children imaginable.

    Mark (59e5be)

  53. And the Palestinians happen to be the brattiest, most incorrigible, most irresponsible children imaginable

    Which serves Israel’s interests. They don’t want to give the Palestinians a fair deal and the worse the Palestinians behave the less pressure there is on Israel to treat them fairly.

    James B. Shearer (9233b4)

  54. the only reason they don’t want to give the Palestinians a fair deal is cause the Palestinians are demented murderous fiends

    happyfeet (8ce051)

  55. It’s always the fault of the Jooooos, isn’t it Jimmy, never the people who are trying to exterminate them.

    daleyrocks (bf33e9)


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