After almost half a century, the only thing you ever do is make things worse. Any man with a scrap of decency looking back on a lifetime of diplomatic wreckage would have retired. Instead you finagled your way into becoming Secretary of State so you could fail on a grander scale.
The secret to your success as a lifelong failure is refusing to accept responsibility for anything. You just throw someone else’s medals over the fence and blame someone else for your latest fiasco.
This time it’s Israel.
You told the Senate last month that the negotiations between Israel and the PLO broke down because the Jewish State didn’t release the latest set of murderers on time. There was no acknowledgement that Israel should not have been expected to release the murderers of civilians, including an elderly Holocaust survivor. After releasing three sets of murderers, in exchange for nothing except the PLO showing up and continuing to make more demands, you decided that Israel was to blame because the fourth set of murderers wasn’t released on time.
Oh and let’s not forget the popular “settlements” excuse. The settlement in question is Jerusalem. One of the oldest cities in the world. A city whose unity as the capital of Israel you endorsed on numerous occasions.
You cosponsored the Jerusalem Embassy Act of 1995 which stated that the policy of the United States is that, “Jerusalem should remain an undivided city” and “Jerusalem should be recognized as the capital of the State of Israel”. You cosponsored Senate Consecutive Resolution 113 in 1992 which stated that “Jerusalem must remain an undivided city in which the rights of every ethnic and religious group are protected as they have been by Israel during the past twenty-five years.”
Is this ringing any bells?
How about Senate Concurrent Resolution 106 in 1990 or Resolution 21 in 1997 which “Calls upon the President and the Secretary of State to publicly affirm as a matter of U.S. policy that Jerusalem must remain the undivided capital of Israel.” Or 1323 and 1322?
You co-sponsored all of them. Were you obstructing peace all these decades? Or are you obstructing peace now by turning your back on them?
You also co-sponsored Resolution 46 stating that the modern State of Israel is “the outgrowth of the existence of the historic Kingdom of Israel established three thousand years ago in the city of Jerusalem and in the land of Israel.”
You co-sponsored Resolution 522 with the same text in 2008. But that was a long 6 years ago.
During your presidential campaign, you released a paper titled, “John Kerry: Strengthening Israel’s Security and Bolstering the US-Israel Special Relationship” in which you called Jerusalem, “Israel’s indisputable capital.” Now you’re disputing it.
Apparently you were for a united Jerusalem… before you were against it.
“As President, John Kerry will never force Israel to make concessions that compromise its security,” the paper said. “As President, John Kerry would not expect Israel to negotiate without a credible Palestinian partner for peace – something that unfortunately does not exist today.”
But you’re not President so you can’t be blamed for completely reversing those positions and insisting that Israel make concessions that compromise its security and negotiate with terrorists who sabotage every one of your futile attempts at peace negotiations. And then you head down to the Senate and blame Israel for sabotaging the peace process. And then you stop by the Trilateral Commission and suggest, off the record, that Israel is becoming an Apartheid state.
Clearly you haven’t lost your diplomatic touch. But when your boss said that he would always have Israel’s back, he forgot to mention the knife that comes with it.