GOP senator says comments that Israel is ‘guilty of acts of terror’ display administration’s antagonism toward Israel
WASHINGTON — Republican Senator Ted Cruz called on Secretary of State John Kerry to either resign or distance himself from comments made by State Department spokesman John Kirby that some Israelis were guilty of terrorism.
“Once again, Secretary Kerry and his staff have proven themselves utterly unfit for the positions they hold,” the presidential hopeful complained. “Mr. Kirby should immediately retract his offensive assertion that Israel is ‘guilty of acts of terror’ or resign, and Secretary Kerry should immediately disavow these remarks or resign.”
Kirby said Wednesday that “individuals on both sides of [the Israeli-Palestinian] divide are — have proven capable of and in our view guilty of — acts of terror.”
According to Cruz, Kirby had declared “both the Palestinians and Israel equally guilty of terrorism.”
The presidential contender said that the spokesman’s comments fit a larger pattern of statements made by administration officials, including comments made by Kerry himself on Tuesday that seemed to tie the upswing in violence to a “massive increase in settlements” in recent years.
Cruz said that the Obama administration’s “obsessive antagonism [toward Israel] has been on full display” in recent days. “It is utterly unacceptable that a senior official in the US government would make such an unfounded slur against Israel, which has been our invaluable ally in the fight against terrorism.”
The Texas senator said that the US “must immediately and unconditionally reject the delusion that the coordinated Palestinian frenzy of bloodlust is in any way legitimate.”
“There is no moral equivalence here between the savagery of the Palestinian terrorists and the innocent Israelis they are trying to murder,” he added.
This is not the first time that Cruz has called for Kerry’s resignation. In April 2014, he demanded that the secretary of state step down after he warned that Israel could become an “apartheid state” if a two-state solution was not reached.
Cruz was not alone in his criticism. His calls for Kerry’s resignation came hours after Israeli ministers — some from Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu’s own party — excoriated Kirby for his Wednesday statements. The ministers, however, seemed less concerned with the statements equivocating culpability for terror attacks — and more concerned with a different comment by Kirby, in which he seemed to accuse Israel of using excessive force.
Kirby told reporters that the US had “seen some reports of security activity that could indicate the potential excessive use of force.” He did not elaborate on the incidents in question, and it was unclear if he was referring to Israel’s handling of Palestinian rioting or the shooting of knife-wielding Palestinian assailants — which many Palestinians and Arab Israelis have claimed is excessive.
It seemed, however, that Kerry himself was trying Thursday to step back from the rhetorical precipice. In a speech at Indiana University, the secretary of state told the audience that “there is simply no justification for these reprehensible attacks and we will continue to support Israel’s right to defend its existence.”
