In a statement issued by the State Department, Secretary of State John Kerry said: “I do not believe, nor have I ever stated, publicly or privately, that Israel is an apartheid state or that it intends to become one.” [Emphasis mine.]
In a closed-door meeting on Friday, Kerry had said:
“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.”
Kerry has now offered clarification to that statement by saying:
“I have been around long enough to also know the power of words to create a misimpression, even when unintentional, and if I could rewind the tape, I would have chosen a different word to describe my firm belief that the only way in the long term to have a Jewish state and two nations and two peoples living side by side in peace and security is through a two state solution. In the long term, a unitary, binational state cannot be the democratic Jewish state that Israel deserves or the prosperous state with full rights that the Palestinian people deserve. That’s what I said, and it’s also what Prime Minister Netanyahu has said. While Justice Minister Livni, former Prime Ministers Barak and Ohlmert have all invoked the specter of apartheid to underscore the dangers of a unitary state for the future, it is a word best left out of the debate here at home.”
In other words, in order to avoid startling and disappointing the likes of Abe Foxman, ‘apartheid’ is a word best reserved for conversations with Israelis.
How Kerry got to be S.of S. is beyond the rational thing of even a newt.
The Catholics have the Vatican as their own state within another state. So why
would Jews deserve a higher status? For anyone living in South Africa, it becomes
clear that Israel has gone way beyond the apartheid policies that were introduced
by the British colonial masters long ago, and lasted until 20 years ago.
To be fair, I think Kerry is a reasonable guy considering the ridiculous role he has to carry out. It is a shame he bent so easily to the attacks, but as is the game in US politics. Israeli politicians barely had to offer a word, they knew they could rely on their attack dogs at AIPAC and in both the Democrats and Republicans.