Post date: Jan 14, 2014 9:32:5 PM
A U.S. State Department spokeswoman expresses outrage over remarks by Israel's defense minister who is said to have dismissed Secretary of State John Kerry's Middle East peace push as naïve and messianic. Spokeswoman Marie Harf calls the remarks "offensive and inappropriate".
WASHINGTON D.C., UNITED STATES (JANUARY 14, 2014) (STATE TV)- The United States on Tuesday (January 14) rebuked Israel for comments attributed to the Israeli defense minister suggesting that U.S. Secretary of State John Kerry's quest for Israeli-Palestinian peace is messianic and obsessive.
"If these comments are accurate, we find the remarks of the Defense Minister (Moshe Yaalon) to be offensive and inappropriate. Especially given all that the United States has done to support Israel's security needs and will continue to do," State Department spokeswoman Marie Harf said at a news conference that constituted a rare rebuke to close ally Israel.She made the comment after Israel's biggest-selling newspaper quoted Yaalon as saying "John Kerry, who has come to us determined and is acting out of an incomprehensible obsession and a messianic feeling, cannot teach me a single thing about the conflict with the Palestinians."
"Secretary Kerry and his team, including General (John) Allen, have been working day and night to try to promote a secure peace for Israel because of the Secretary's deep concern for Israel's future," Harf added. "To question his motives, to distort his proposals is not something we would expect from the Defense Minister of a close ally and again, if accurate, I think we have been very clear that we would find these comments offensive and inappropriate."