A day after saying that he will not be intimidated by Israeli critics of his policies, US Secretary of State John Kerry made clear Thursday whose voice he thinks should be heard more in Israel: Finance Minister Yair Lapid.
Lapid speaks courageously about peace, Secretary of State John Kerry said in a meeting with Yesh Atid faction chairman Ofer Shelah in Washington. Shelah said that Kerry added: "That voice needs to be heard well in Israel."
The night before, in a CNN interview, Kerry – who was sharply criticized in Israel for comments he made Saturday interpreted by some as giving a back wind, if even inadvertently, to boycotts of Israel – pushed back.
In a reference to his days as a soldier in Vietnam, Kerry said he has been "attacked before by people using real bullets, not words, and I am not going to be intimidated. I am not going to stand down with respect to President Obama’s commitment to try to find peace in the Middle East."
Kerry said his boycott comments "need to be properly represented, not distorted. I did not do anything except cite what other people are talking about as a problem, but I also have always opposed boycotts. I have a 100 percent voting record in support of Israel for 29 years in the United States Senate."
The secretary of state said there were "some people in Israel and in Palestine and in the Arab world and around the world who don’t support the peace process. There are specifically some people who don’t support two states. There are some people who don’t want any restraint on settlements whatsoever. What’s important is to look at the positive side of this, which is the majority of the people in Israel, the majority of the Palestinians, the majority of the people in the region believe in peace and want peace, and believe peace will strengthen everybody."
Shelah, a Yesh Atid MK, told Kerry that his party – which is headed by Lapid – "is the biggest and strongest basis of support for progress in the peace process in the Israeli government."
"Prime Minister Binyamin Netanyahu knows that if the process moves forward, we will stand behind him and ensure him a majority in the Knesset and the public," he said.
Shelah and Kerry spoke during a breakfast meeting with parliamentarians from around the world, featuring Obama, Vice President Joe Biden and members of the US Congress.
State Department spokeswoman Jen Psaki, meanwhile, told reporters that the top US diplomat considered the past week's verbal attacks on him an assault on the peace process itself.
"He knows that trying to create peace isn’t a favor," Psaki said. "So while he has a tough skin and he’s been through a lot more difficult circumstances than having personal verbal attacks thrown at him, he is – he wants the focus to be on these tough issues."
One of his loudest critics, Economy Minister Naftali Bennett, was not deterred and continued his assault on Kerry's policies on Thursday, accusing Washington of making mistakes in regional diplomatic efforts that have lead to threats on Israeli security.
The Bayit Yehudi leader told Israel Radio that "wrong decisions" made by Washington over the years on the Israeli-Palestinian track have partially lead to the rain of missile attacks from Gaza on southern Israel.
According to Bennett, it was the US insistence on elections in the Palestinian Authority the led to Hamas's victory and subsequently a deluge of rockets on southern Israel.
Stressing both that he had nothing against US Secretary of State John Kerry and the importance of the strong relationship with the US, Bennett said that only the IDF could be relied on to defend Israel, and not a NATO force or Palestinian police.
He added that any peace agreement reached by Israeli and Palestinian negotiators would be brought to a referendum for final approval.
Justice Minister Tzipi Livni, meanwhile, seemed to be referring to Bennett when during a speech at Bar-Ilan University she blasted "hypocrites" whose actions could threaten to derail the ongoing peace process with the Palestinians.
There are critics in the government who claim to support peace, but in actuality use the argument of security as a cover for ideological opposition to a peace agreement, the chief Israeli negotiator said.
"I don't like hypocrites," she declared. "I don't like people who don't tell you the truth, those who say that they don't like what is in the Kerry document, or what will be [in it], but do not tell you the truth that it does not matter what is there. They will object to any concession on any part of Eretz Yisrael."
Livni also defended Kerry during the speech, slamming what she called the right-wing's new pastime: seeing who can "curse Kerry more." Livni lauded Kerry for strongly defending Israeli interests in the international arena.
Intelligence Minister Yuval Steinitz, who on Sunday called Kerry's boycott comments "offensive and unacceptable," told Israel Radio Kerry's words were widely interpreted as a "camouflaged threat," and that he was pleased the US diplomat "clarified his remarks" and made clear his opposition to boycotts.
"We need to tell the truth, there are sometimes arguments between friends, and sometimes sharp disagreements between us and the US," he said. "Kerry for many years has defined himself a friend of Israel, and even if we have arguments occasionally, there is no reason to doubt his friendship toward Israel."