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John Kerry was famous for being the Democratic presidential candidate who was “for it before he was against it,” and now, he seems to be “for it” again, reportedly saying in a secret meeting with a Palestinian operative that he is thinking of challenging President Donald Trump in the 2020 race for the White House.
Kerry hinted during a recent meeting with a close associate of Palestinian boss Mahmoud Abbas that he might throw his hat in the ring for a second time in an act of “resistance” to Trump, according to the Jerusalem Post.
According to a leaked account of the meeting, Kerry told Abbas aid Hussein Agha that the Palestinians need to “hold on and be strong” because soon Trump will be gone. Kerry reportedly added that Abbas should “stay strong in his spirit and play for time, that he will not break and will not yield to President Trump’s demands.”
Ever imagining that he is the one man who can broker a long-dreamed-of peace between the Palestinians and the Israelis, Kerry added that it was time for Abbas to present his own peace plan. “Maybe it is time for the Palestinians to define their peace principles and present a positive plan,” Kerry purportedly said.
Kerry, who took over as Obama’s secretary of state when Hillary Clinton vacated the position, confided that deep state insiders in the Department of State and the U.S. intelligence community do not like President Trump. He also allegedly urged Abbas to launch personal attacks on Trump meant to enrage the president and force him to make errors.
The failed 2004 Democratic candidate for president also said he does not feel his advanced age is a problem for another bid for the White House. Were he to actually win the presidency in 2020, Kerry would be 77 years old on inauguration day, and that would make him the oldest president in U.S. history.
Kerry’s alleged assurances to the Palestinian strongman that the U.S. would soon be able to acquiesce to Palestinian Authority demands are reminiscent of the time then-President Barack Obama was heard on an open mic assuring Russian President Dmitri Medvedev that after he was safely re-elected, he would be better able to bow to Vladimir Putin’s demands.
The former Massachusetts senator’s secret visit aimed at undermining U.S. foreign policy in favor of an enemy is also reminiscent of another Massachusetts senator’s secret efforts to aid an enemy. In 1983, Sen. Ted Kennedy sent overtures to the Soviet Union promising his help in undermining the policies of President Ronald Reagan if only the USSR would, in return, help him launch a successful bid to beat back Reagan’s re-election and place Kennedy in the White House.
REMEMBER:
TEL AVIV – Ties between the U.S. and the Palestinian Authority have been suspended as a result of President Donald Trump’s December decision to recognize Jerusalem as the capital of Israel, a senior White House official said Tuesday, amid other reports that the PA was now willing to include the U.S. as part of a multilateral bid for statehood.
The official, who was part of Vice President Mike Pence’s delegation to Israel, told Reuters that the Trump administration’s peace plan is likely to be presented later this year but is contingent on the Palestinians returning to the negotiating table.
Reuters reported:
A White House official told reporters he hoped the plan would be announced in 2018.
“It’ll come out both when it’s ready and when both sides are actually willing to engage on it,” said the White House official, speaking on condition of anonymity.
The official acknowledged that the United States and the Palestinian leadership had not had any direct diplomatic contact since Trump’s Jerusalem declaration.
Meanwhile, other reports emerged the same day that although the U.S. as broker to peace talks between the two sides was off the table, the Palestinian leadership was now willing to include Washington in an international framework towards recognition as an independent state.
Majdi al Khalidi, a senior adviser to PA President Mahmoud Abbas, said the Palestinians would seek support from international bodies such as the the Middle East Quartet, which includes the U.S., the United Nations, Russia and the European Union as well as through the permanent members of the UN Security Council: China, France, Russia, the United Kingdom and the United States.
“We cannot accept the United States alone. But we are not against the United States being part of a multilateral mechanism,” he said.
Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu has made it clear that the U.S. would be the only acceptable broker between the two parties.
“There is no alternative for American leadership in the diplomatic process,” he said Sunday. “Whoever is not ready to talk with the Americans about peace — does not want peace.”
Pence, who completed a two-day visit to Israel with a visit to the Western Wall in Jerusalem Tuesday afternoon, was snubbed by the Palestinians.
Hanan Ashrawi, a senior official at the Palestine Liberation Organization (PLO), slammed Pence’s “biblical messianic” approach to peace.
“The extremist positions of this U.S. administration and the biblical messianic message of Pence not only disqualified the U.S. as a peace broker but created conditions of volatility and instability in the region and beyond,” Ashrawi said.
For his part, Pence said “the door is open” for the Palestinians to resume negotiations.
“We understand they’re unhappy with [the Jerusalem] decision but the president wanted me to convey our willingness and desire to be a part of the peace process going forward,” Pence said.
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