REPUBLIKA.CO.ID, WASHINGTON - Obama administration officials rallied to the defense of US Secretary of State John Kerry on Monday after withering criticism in Israel of Kerry's failed attempt to secure a ceasefire between Israelis and Palestinians.
"I must tell you: we’ve been dismayed by some press reports in Israel mischaracterizing his efforts last week to achieve a ceasefire," Obama's national security adviser, Susan Rice, told a conference of national Jewish leaders. "The reality is that John Kerry on behalf of the United States has been working every step of the way with Israel."
The critics of Kerry centered around ideas that US officials said were sent to Israeli officials, based on an Egyptian draft ceasefire proposal, that would provide for an immediate end to hostilities and talks 48 hours later between Israeli, Palestinian and Egyptian officials in Cairo.
The confidential draft was leaked to the Israeli news media, which interpreted the proposal as akin to a US effort to get Israel to halt a military campaign aimed at destroying Hamas tunnels in Gaza that militants have used to launch attacks against Israeli soldiers.
"John Kerry: The Betrayal," was the headline of an opinion piece in the Times of Israel about Kerry's attempt to secure a ceasefire. "Astoundingly, the secretary's intervention in the Hamas war empowers the Gaza terrorist government bent on destroying Israel," it said.
Israeli govt is suspicious
The Israeli government has been suspicious of Kerry's motives, particularly after he was caught on a Fox News open mic earlier this month sarcastically describing Israel's offensive in Gaza as a "hell of a pinpoint operation."
State Department spokeswoman Jen Psaki rejected the criticism, saying Kerry's reason for engaging in the ceasefire effort is to end the rocket attacks against Israel from Hamas. She said she would not assign motivations behind the leaks, but added that "those who want to support a ceasefire should focus on efforts to put it in place and not on efforts to criticize or attack one of the very people who are playing a prominent role in getting it done."
At the White House, Deputy National Security Adviser Tony Blinken said the proposal that was criticized was not a US proposal, but a draft to elicit comment from the Israelis based on an original Egyptian initiative.
"Virtually every element that unidentified sources complained about was in the initial Egyptian proposal and agreed to by Israel 10 days before," he said.
The criticism from Israel has strained US relations with the Jewish state at a crucial time as the death toll from Israeli-Palestinian violence in Gaza has climbed past 1,000, most of them civilians in Gaza. The United States is Israel's strongest military and financial backer, and successive US presidents who have sought to mediate in the Middle East are always careful to avoid criticism of Israeli leaders.
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