Israeli Minister Slams Kerry's Mideast Efforts As 'Messianic'
U.S. Secretary of State John Kerry has said he's encouraged by talks with Israel and the Palestinians despite widespread criticism and skepticism, but comments Tuesday reportedly by an important Israeli interlocutor in those talks show just how difficult discussions are over a possible peace deal.
Yedioth Ahronoth, Israel's most widely circulated newspaper, quoted Defense Minister Moshe Yaalon as saying: "In reality, there have been no negotiations between us and the Palestinians for all these months – but rather between us and the Americans.
"The only thing that can 'save us' is for John Kerry to win a Nobel Prize and leave us in peace."
The newspaper said the comments were made both in private conversations in Israel and in the U.S. It did not provide a date for the alleged remarks.
Here are more of Yaalon's reported comments:
"The American security plan presented to us is not worth the paper it's written on. It contains no peace and no security. Only our continued presence in Judea and Samaria and the River Jordan will ensure that Ben-Gurion Airport and Netanya don't become targets for rockets from every direction. American Secretary of State John Kerry, who turned up here determined and acting out of misplaced obsession and messianic fervor, cannot teach me anything about the conflict with the Palestinians."