From Mondoweiss
Jeffrey Goldberg and John Kerry at Saban Forum
(Image by photo from Martin Indyk twitter feed) Details DMCA
John Kerry offered yet another tough-love talk to Israel at the pro-Israel Saban Forum yesterday. The United States gives Israel more than half of the aid that we give "to the entire world," and Israel simply ignores us when we warn it about new settlements.
Kerry:Every president, Republican and Democrat, has been opposed to settlements -- we issue a warning today when we see a new settlement announced. Nothing happens. It's ignored, a new settlement goes up. New units, new sales. So the issue --
Journalist Jeffrey Goldberg: You're describing a situation in which you have zero leverage.
Kerry: I think we do -- I think we do have leverage --
Goldberg: But they never listen to you.
Kerry: No, they don't, and they haven't listened on settlements, that's correct.
Here's how much money we give Israel to ignore us.
"I've watched while we, the Obama Administration, have put $23.5 billion on the line for foreign military financing. More than 50 percent of the total that we give to the entire world has gone to Israel. We have just signed an agreement for $38 billion over 10 years, $3.8 billion a year, up from 3.1."
Goldberg, the new editor-in-chief of the Atlantic, played the innocent. He knows damn well why the U.S. government has no leverage over Israel; because of Israel-loving journalists like himself and Israel-loving donors like Haim Saban. He ventured that the two-state solution (which he did as much as anyone to kill) is dead because there are now so many settlers in the West Bank there can never be a Palestinian state:
MR GOLDBERG: Have we not passed the tipping point already?
SECRETARY KERRY: No, no.
MR GOLDBERG: Why have we not passed the tipping point? It seems like it.
SECRETARY KERRY: No, we haven't, but we're getting very -- we're getting -- I'll tell you why we haven't. Because this is a function of leadership. It's a function of belief. It's a function of what choices are being put to the people of Israel. So let me --
MR GOLDBERG: You know how hard it is to move 10,000, 8,000 settlers from Gaza. You're talking about 90,000 --
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