The day after John Kerry essentially blamed Israel for almost everything to do with the century old conflict in the Land of Israel, Theresa May, Britain’s PM took him to task, essentially breaking diplomatic protocol in a searing attack on John F. Kerry.
“We do not believe that it is appropriate to attack the composition of the democratically elected government of an ally,” he said. “The government believes that negotiations will only succeed when they are conducted between the two parties, supported by the international community.”
Of course, May had to make her own excuse of what prompted her to vote in favor of UN Resolution 2334.
“We continue to believe that the construction of settlements in the Occupied Palestinian Territories is illegal, which is why we supported UN security council resolution 2334 last week.
“But we are also clear that the settlements are far from the only problem in this conflict. In particular, the people of Israel deserve to live free from the threat of terrorism, with which they have had to cope for too long.”
Why Is May Changing Her Tune After 2334?
One word: Trump.
None of the countries that voted for the resolution expected such a strong negative response from Trump, the US Congress, or the Israeli government. In fact millions of Israel supporters around the world immediately made it clear to their governments that they did not approve of Resolution 2334.
May cannot take back the Resolution, but knowing she will have to deal with a very assertive US President, one who owes no allegiances to anyone means her actions will be in check from now on. May wants to be on the right side of Donald Trump’s Middle East moves and if that means castigating Kerry, then so be it.
The White House Attacks Back
May’s attack was not lost on the outgoing administration. The State Department issued a statement:
A spokesperson said: “We are surprised by the UK Prime Minister’s office statement given that Secretary Kerry’s remarks—which covered the full range of threats to a two state solution, including terrorism, violence, incitement and settlements—were in-line with the UK’s own longstanding policy and its vote at the United Nations last week.”
The statement also said: “We are grateful for the strongly supportive statements in response to Secretary Kerry’s speech from across the world, including Germany, France, Canada, Jordan, Egypt, Turkey, Saudi Arabia, Qatar, the United Arab Emirates and others.”
May’s attack is a precursor to what many sources are saying, will be a sustained attack from the incoming Congress against the Obama’s administration’s parting attack on the only Jewish State.
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