US Secretary of State John Kerry vehemently denied on Monday that he had ever called Israel “an apartheid state,” amid a row over comments reportedly made during a private meeting.
“Israel is a vibrant democracy and 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,” the top US diplomat said in a strong statement after calls earlier in the day for him to resign or at least apologize for the alleged comments.
“Anyone who knows anything about me knows that without a shred of doubt,” he said.
However, Kerry, who has seen his dogged efforts to broker peace between Israel and the Palestinians collapse, did suggest that he had used a poor choice of words during his speech on Friday to international experts of the Trilateral Commission.
“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,” Kerry said.
The Daily Beast online news site reported that Kerry had warned that “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.”
The Web site said it had been given a recording of Kerry’s speech, which sparked a furor in Israel and led one Republican senator to call for his resignation.
Kerry has “repeatedly demonstrated a willingness to countenance a world in which Israel is made a pariah,” US Senator Ted Cruz said.
“Before any more harm is done to our national security interests and our critical alliance with the state of Israel,” Kerry should offer his resignation and US President Barack Obama should “accept it,” Cruz added.
Veteran Republican Senator John McCain also said Kerry should clarify his comments immediately and apologize, but laughed at the suggestion the top US diplomat should step down.
In his statement, Kerry said: “I will not allow my commitment to Israel to be questioned by anyone, particularly for partisan, political purposes.”
He said that “for more than 30 years in the US Senate, I didn’t just speak words in support of Israel, I walked the walk when it came time to vote and when it came time to fight.”
He also said that in his year in office as secretary of state, he had “spent countless hours” working with Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu and Israeli Minister of Justice Tzipi Livni, who is Israel’s lead negotiator, “because I believe in the kind of future that Israel not only wants, but Israel deserves.”
“I want to see a two-state solution that results in a secure Jewish state and a prosperous Palestinian state, and I’ve actually worked for it,” he added.
CONFRONTATION: The water cannon attack was the second this month on the Philippine supply boat ‘Unaizah May 4,’ after an incident on March 5 The China Coast Guard yesterday morning blocked a Philippine supply vessel and damaged it with water cannons near a reef off the Southeast Asian country, the Philippines said. The Philippine military released video of what it said was a nearly hour-long attack off the Second Thomas Shoal (Renai Shoal, 仁愛暗沙) in the contested South China Sea, where Chinese ships have unleashed water cannons and collided with Philippine vessels in similar standoffs in the past few months. The China Coast Guard and other vessels “once again harassed, blocked, deployed water cannons, and executed dangerous maneuvers” against a routine rotation and resupply mission to
GLOBAL COMBAT AIR PROGRAM: The potential purchasers would be limited to the 15 nations with which Tokyo has signed defense partnership and equipment transfer deals Japan’s Cabinet yesterday approved a plan to sell future next-generation fighter jets that it is developing with the UK and Italy to other nations, in the latest move away from the country’s post-World War II pacifist principles. The contentious decision to allow international arms sales is expected to help secure Japan’s role in the joint fighter jet project, and is part of a move to build up the Japanese arms industry and bolster its role in global security. The Cabinet also endorsed a revision to Japan’s arms equipment and technology transfer guidelines to allow coproduced lethal weapons to be sold to nations
Thousands of devotees, some in a state of trance, gathered at a Buddhist temple on the outskirts of Bangkok renowned for sacred tattoos known as Sak Yant, paying their respects to a revered monk who mastered the practice and seeking purification. The gathering at Wat Bang Phra Buddhist temple is part of a Thai Wai Khru ritual in which devotees pay homage to Luang Phor Pern, the temple’s formal abbot, who died in 2002. He had a reputation for refining and popularizing the temple’s Sak Yant tattoo style. The idea that tattoos confer magical powers has existed in many parts of Asia
ON ALERT: A Russian cruise missile crossed into Polish airspace for about 40 seconds, the Polish military said, adding that it is constantly monitoring the war to protect its airspace Ukraine’s capital, Kyiv, and the western region of Lviv early yesterday came under a “massive” Russian air attack, officials said, while a Russian cruise missile breached Polish airspace, the Polish military said. Russia and Ukraine have been engaged in a series of deadly aerial attacks, with yesterday’s strikes coming a day after the Russian military said it had seized the Ukrainian village of Ivanivske, west of Bakhmut. A militant attack on a Moscow concert hall on Friday that killed at least 133 people also became a new flash point between the two archrivals. “Explosions in the capital. Air defense is working. Do not