quote:

ORIGINAL: MasterJaguar01

I will miss having a Secretary of State who actually understands what is going on in the world.

http://www.haaretz.com/israel-news/1.761881

Every word of that speech was just perfect. (OK.. I didn't hear/read the WHOLE thing) but the 45 mins that I listened to was amazing)

I love how he made sure that everyone KNEW that the Obama administration has made a larger commitment to Israel's security (both financially AND politically) than ANY other US administration preceding it.

I am sure Ehud Barak, Tzivi Lipni, and 100's of thousands of Israelis are applauding the speech.


Maybe someday soon, Tzipi Livni will be the Israeli PM and we can finally have competent leadership in Israel.

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ORIGINAL: MasterBrentC

You're kidding, right? The Obama administration that gave Iran nuclear weapons and billions of dollars to a country that has in its constitution the destruction of Isreal and all jews? That's the administration you are applauding? Seriously?

quote:

Education Minister Naftali Bennett, head of the Jewish Home party, said he had no intention of allowing Palestinians to set up a “terror state” alongside Israel.

“Kerry quoted me three times anonymously [in his speech] to show that we are opposed to a Palestinian state,” Bennett wrote in Hebrew on Twitter. “It’s true. If it’s up to me, we will not establish another terror state in the heart of the land [of Israel].”

Kerry–good intentions but policy divorced from reality:
Left Mideast in flames, Syrian genocide, Iran racing to bomb, Israel abandoned.

— Naftali Bennett בנט (@naftalibennett) December 28, 2016...

Energy Minister Yuval Steinitz, a close Netanyahu associate, told the Walla News website that Kerry and US President Barack Obama were “living in fantasy.”...

Deputy Foreign Minister Tzipi Hotovely said Kerry’s proposed solutions were unrealistic. “For 25 years we tried similar methods, and instead of peace we got islands of terror,” she said.

Israel’s envoy to the UN Danny Danon refuted Kerry’s claim that Washington remained a strong supporter of the Jewish state, saying “advancing one-sided resolutions against Israel is not support of Israel, it is the opposite.”

And Culture Minister Miri Regev claimed the speech “gives hope to terror organizations” and vowed that Jerusalem would remain Israel’s capital “forever.” Kerry, she said, was “welcome to propose to divide up Washington.”

Public Security Minister Gilad Erdan had called Kerry’s speech a “pathetic step,” before Kerry even began speaking.

quote:

Iran was given secret exemptions allowing the country to exceed restrictions set out by the landmark nuclear deal inked last year, some of which were made public this week by the United Nations nuclear watchdog and others that are likely still being withheld, according to diplomatic sources and a top nuclear expert who spoke to THE WEEKLY STANDARD.

The International Atomic Energy Agency (IAEA) on Friday posted documents revealing that Iran had been given exemptions in January that permit the country to stockpile uranium in excess of the 300 kilogram limit set by the nuclear deal, experts said. The agreements had been kept secret for almost a year, but recent reports indicated that the Trump administration intended to make them public.

TWS reported earlier in December that top Democratic senators also supported releasing the documents.

Some details of the exemptions had previously been leaked. The Institute for Science and International Security (ISIS) revealed in September that Iran had been allowed to exceed certain caps in the deal so that the country could come into compliance with the deal's terms.

Administration officials dismissed the ISIS report at the time, and surrogates who White House officials have described as the administration's "echo chamber" criticized the organization.

"The administration was really nasty after we released these documents," David Albright, the founder and president of ISIS, told TWS on Friday. "It was very tough for us to get the information. ... I think that if we hadn't released, they had every intention to keep it secret. They may have given lip service to openness, but I think their intention was to keep it secret."

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Public Security Minister Gilad Erdan had called Kerry’s speech a “pathetic step,” before Kerry even began speaking.

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ORIGINAL: bounty44

these guys all liked the speech too!

http://www.timesofisrael.com/kerrys-speech-drives-peace-further-away-say-us-jewish-groups/

http://www.timesofisrael.com/democratic-leader-kerrys-speech-emboldens-extremists-on-both-sides/

http://www.timesofisrael.com/ted-cruz-history-to-record-obama-kerry-as-relentless-enemies-of-israel/ (Obama's been the best friend of Israel of all the presidents?)

quote:

ORIGINAL: dcnovice

quote:

Public Security Minister Gilad Erdan had called Kerry’s speech a “pathetic step,” before Kerry even began speaking.

That sounds somewhat less than compelling as an informed, objective source.

Your links seem to view the speech through the lens of Israel's interests rather than the USA's.

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what erdan's likely saying then is that Kerry has no business or standing to be making the speech period.

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and yeah---do you think the people in Israel really care, when it concerns their own immediate safety, sovereign status, and national policy, what is in the best interest of the united states?

quote:

ORIGINAL: bounty44

these guys all liked the speech too!

http://www.timesofisrael.com/kerrys-speech-drives-peace-further-away-say-us-jewish-groups/

http://www.timesofisrael.com/democratic-leader-kerrys-speech-emboldens-extremists-on-both-sides/

http://www.timesofisrael.com/ted-cruz-history-to-record-obama-kerry-as-relentless-enemies-of-israel/ (Obama's been the best friend of Israel of all the presidents?)

quote:

ORIGINAL: dcnovice

It also makes Israeli officials an odd choice of lens for Americans discussing U.S. policy.