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Photo: AP
'Kerry tried to help unenthusiastically and without putting a lot of thought into it'
Photo: AP
Photo: Michael Kramer
Alon Pinkas
Photo: Michael Kramer

Kerry wounded in action in Middle East

Op-ed: US secretary of state could have avoided unnecessary insults had he been as sharp and eloquent as President Obama.

US President Barack Obama did Secretary of State John Kerry a favor on Sunday evening. Kerry could have avoided the unnecessary attack on him had he been as sharp and eloquent as Obama.

  

 

In a few clear and short sentences, the president clarified how the United States sees the situation: The US calls for an immediate humanitarian ceasefire which will lead to a permanent ceasefire based on the November 2012 agreement. The US condemns Hamas, but is concerned by the Palestinian civilian death toll. The US supports the Egyptian outline and believes that ending the conflict requires the demilitarization of Gaza.

 

This is a clear pro-Israel wording. Had Kerry presented the outline and had he made it clear that the intention is not to force Israel to accept it but to bring it to its consideration, all the harsh statements made in the past 24 hours would have been avoided.

 

US Secretary of State John Kerry has a Bronze Star medal, a Silver Star medal and three Purple Heart decorations from his combat service in the Vietnam War. A Purple Heart is awarded for a wound received in action which required treatment by a medical officer.

 

According to this measure, Kerry is entitled to at least two more: For his faith, for the resource allocation, for the energy he invested and for his activity in the Israeli-Palestinian peace process – which is no longer with us – and again, this week, for his involvement in the Gaza war in an attempt to formulate a ceasefire between Israel and Hamas.

 

A Purple Heart, as I said, is awarded for an injury, not for unusual courage. According to this measure, the criticism Kerry has been hit with in the past few days justifies a dark Purple Heart.

 

Looking back a few months, Kerry surely has no regrets over his involvement in the peace process. As far as he is concerned, it was a last attempt of active American mediation in a bid to create a durable outline of negotiations between Israel and the Palestinians.

 

Looking back a day or two, he is surely cursing the moment he put himself and America's prestige into the Gaza conflict. This scar could have been avoided, as there was no critical American interest in getting involved at this stage.

 

Moreover, the US has had enough of being the 911 emergency call center of an indifferent, hypocritical world which is unprepared to get involved but only to preach. In Syria, in Libya and in Egypt, a decision was made not to pick up when the world dials 911 and shouts that "America should do something." In Gaza, Kerry couldn't control himself and picked up the phone.

 

John Kerry is among the last idealists left in the American foreign policy establishment. He is one of those who believe that the US has a historical-cultural-religious mission to be the force of good, of freedom and of democracy in an anarchic world. This is an establishment which sees the US as having a constructive, involved role in shaping geopolitical systems around the world.

 

But when Kerry turns around and looks around, he is in a minority. He sees a cold, calculated, "realistic" president who is not keen on getting involved, who examines interests and their validity to the case in question and without any desires, and believes in regional balances of power rather than in instilling the American policy everywhere. He sees an American public and public opinion which are sick and tired of American involvement in the Middle East.

 

Gaza? Who cares about Gaza? Israel strikes Hamas? Excellent, let it strike. Why should the US get involved? And then become a laughingstock.

 

The only rational explanation for Kerry's involvement, therefore, is that he accepted the call out of a feeling that Israel had crossed the breaking point on the timeline in terms of the international support for an operation on the backdrop of the images from Gaza.

 

Kerry tried to help unenthusiastically and without putting a lot of thought into it. But in the Middle East one doesn't even a get a Purple Heart for such an effort.

 

Alon Pinkas served as Israel's consul-general in New York.

 


פרסום ראשון: 07.28.14, 19:32
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