Sunday, July 20, 2014

Sec. State John Kerry's Open Mike Admonition of Israel




President Obama's current Secretary of State John F. Kerry was making the rounds on the Sunday morning talking heads shows.  With the crises concerning the shootdown of a commercial airliner in Ukraine by Russian paramilitaries, the quiet but questionable extension of Iranian nuclear talks and Israel's military incursion into Gaza to stop a fortnight of wild bombardments by Hamas forces, Kerry even felt obliged to venture to the challenging confines of Fox News.  

During the contentious conversation between FNC Fox News Sunday host Chris Wallace and Mr. Kerry, the Secretary of State was challenged to explain an on-mike "moment of truth" uttered about Israel''s Operation Protective Edge.  While Kerry was in front of a television camera in Foggy Bottom and wired via microphone to FNC, the Secretary of State had a conversation with an aide named John. 

 Kerry sarcastically characterized the IDF's actions as  "a helluva pinpoint operation" to root out terror tunnels on the Israel/Gaza border.   Kerry indicated that he felt compelled to rush over to the region.  



It is worth nothing that these terror tunnels are on Israeli territory and the IDF has destroyed dozens of them in the first few days of Operation Protective Edge 

Secretary of State Kerry's tone and tenor seems to demonstrate the Obama Administration's veiled disdain for America's strongest and most reliable ally in the region, namely Israel.

The episode also underlines the imprudence of the Obama Administration's repeated conduct of sensitive foreign policy subjects within range of a "hot mike".  In March 2012, when President Obama told then  Russian President Dmitri Medvedev  “This is my last election. After my election I have more flexibility.” Medvedev's infamous answer sounded like codewords from KAOS but indicated more friendly relations with the Russian Federation.


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