US Secretary of State John Kerry has ripped into Israel for settlement-building, accusing Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu of dragging Israel away from democracy and forcefully rejecting the notion that America had abandoned Israel with a controversial UN vote.
In a farewell speech on Wednesday, Kerry laid out a two-state vision for peace that he won't be in office to implement, but hopes the US may heed even after President Barack Obama's term ends. He defended Obama's move last week to allow the UN Security Council to declare Israeli settlements illegal, the spark that set off an extraordinary and deepening diplomatic spat between the U.S. and its closest Mideast ally.
"If the choice is one state, Israel can either be Jewish or democratic, it cannot be both, and it won't ever really be at peace," Kerry said in an hour plus speech that aired grievances that have built up in the Obama administration over eight years but were rarely discussed publicly.
Netanyahu didn't take long to push back in a televised statement suggesting he's done with the Obama administration and ready to deal with US President-elect Donald Trump, who has sided squarely with Israel. The Israeli leader faulted Kerry for obsessing over settlements while paying mere "lip service" to Palestinian attacks and incitement of violence.
"Israelis do not need to be lectured about the importance of peace by foreign leaders," Netanyahu said from Jerusalem.
The spat marks a low point for US-Israel relations, and a bitter end to eight years of frustrated ties between Obama and Netanyahu, who quarrelled repeatedly over settlements, the peace process and Obama's nuclear deal with Iran.
Trump, assured Israel to "hang on" until he takes over on January 20, would not say if the settlements should be reined in but did tell reporters Israel was being treated very unfairly.
Netanyahu's concerned that a French-hosted summit next month could lead to an international framework that the UN Security Council might then codify with Obama's assent, boxing Israel in. Yet Kerry seemed to rule out the possibility Obama would take more parting shots, such as promoting that type of UN resolution or recognising Palestinian statehood.
The diplomatic fracas erupted last week when the US, in a departure from past policy, decided to abstain rather than veto a UN Security Council resolution calling Israeli settlements in the West Bank and east Jerusalem a violation of international law. Israel was incensed, and on Wednesday, Netanyahu claimed Israel has "absolute, indispensable evidence" the US actually spearheaded the resolution.
Netanyahu offered what he called proof of US collusion: a document, leaked to an Egyptian newspaper, that purports to be a Palestinian account of a December meeting between top US and Palestinian officials. But White House spokesman Ned Price called it a "total fabrication" and added: "This meeting never occurred."
Palestinian President Mahmoud Abbas responded to the speech by reaffirming that he's ready to resume peace talks if Israel halts settlement construction.
