The Zionist Organization of America (ZOA) is understanding of Israeli Defense Minister and former Israel Defense Forces (IDF) Chief of Staff, General Moshe Ya’alon stating that U.S. Secretary of State John Kerry is ignoring the realities of continuing Palestinian opposition to Israel’s existence. 

 General Ya’alon refuted Secretary Kerry’s insistence on the centrality of the conflict to the peace and stability of the Middle East and that it be resolved quickly, saying, “The American security plan that was presented to us [by Secretary Kerry] is not worth the paper it was written on. It contains neither security nor peace. Only our continued presence in Judea and Samaria and the Jordan River will guarantee that Ben Gurion Airport and (the northern city of) Netanya do not become targets for missiles from every direction … [The PA’s Abbas] lives on our sword. Once we leave Judea and Samaria, he is finished. In fact, throughout the recent months, there is no negotiation between us and the Palestinians –– but rather, between us and the Americans” (Gil Ronen, ‘Defense Minister: Kerry is “Obsessive and Messianic,”’ Israel National News, January 14, 2014).

  General Ya’alon also said subsequently that “Even if there are differences between the Americans and us in discussions, they should not overshadow our common objectives and interests … when there are differences we iron them out inside the room, including with Secretary of State Kerry, with whom I hold many talks concerning the future of Israel … The U.S. is our greatest friend and our most important ally; I will keep safeguarding the security of the citizens of Israel resolutely, responsibly and with discretion” (Barak Ravid, ‘Ya’alon raises U.S. ire calling Kerry “obsessive and messianic,”’ Haaretz, January 14, 2014).

 U.S. Silent on PA & Iran – Criticizes Israel

 The ZOA stated, “General Ya’alon’s comments about Secretary Kerry underscores the entire problem to which Mr. Ya’alon was alluding. Consider: the PA’s Abbas can say and do anything and everything –– honor Jew-killing terrorists, demanding they all be released from Israeli prisons; say he’ll never accept a Jewish state; personally protected wanted Jew-killers; tell Palestinians there is no obligation for any Palestinian movement to accept Israel, let alone as a Jewish state, and all the other items we list below –– and attract no criticism or censure from the Obama Administration. 

 “This mirrors the fact that the U.S. has also ignored recent statements by Iranian top leader Ayatollah Ali Khamenei addressing a rally of tens of thousands calling for ‘death to America,’ calling the U.S. a ‘great Satan’ and an ‘enemy who smiles,’ and Iranian president Rouhani boasting that the ‘the U.S. and world powers surrendered to the Iranian nation’s will.’ The Obama Administration and Secretary Kerry are silent about all these horrific Palestinian and Iranian actions and words, yet when General Ya’alon points out that Secretary Kerry is being dangerously unrealistic in ignoring the realities facing Israel (and pressuring Israel to make dangerous concessions to the Holocaust-denying Abbas and the PA), the Obama Administration suddenly finds its voice and strongly criticizes the Israeli Defense Minister.

 “Moreover, given the insistence on negotiations, the consistent ignoring of every infamous Palestinian deed and violation, the Obama Administration seems to  be turning itself into the PA’s attorney and chief negotiator while largely ignoring America’s best ally Israel’s serious and legitimate concerns.

 “The Obama Administration also seems to ignore, or deem irrelevant, the following PA actions and inactions. These actions and inactions prove that the PA has no interest in peace or even statehood, only Israel’s destruction as a Jewish state.

 The PA has not fulfilled its 20-year-old, signed obligations under the Oslo agreements to arrest and jail terrorists, outlaw and disband terrorist groups, confiscate illegal weaponry and end the incitement to hatred and murder that suffuses the PA-controlled media, mosques, schools and youth camps.

 Abbas has a record of continuing pro-terror, and anti-peace words and deeds, including:

•  Calling and physically embracing Jew-killing terrorists as “heroes”; 
• Praising living and dead Jew-killing terrorists;
• Insisting on a Jew-free future Palestinian state, encompassing the forcible uprooting of nearly 400,000 Jews from Judea/Samaria and eastern half of Jerusalem;
• States the PA will never accept Israel as a Jewish state;
• Always insists that all Palestinian refugees (only about 50,000 still living) and their millions of descendants be allowed to returned to Israel
• Declaring that dismantling terror groups is a “red line” that must not be crossed; 
• Stated that the war on Israel will not end even with the creation of a Palestinian state, but rather “internationaliz[e] of the conflict as a legal matter, not only a political one … pav[ing] the way for us to pursue claims against Israel at the United Nations, human rights treaty bodies and the International Court of Justice”;
• Protecting wanted terrorists in his presidential compound;
• Naming schools, streets, sports teams and children’s camps after terrorists;
• Paying stipends to terrorists and their families;
• The Fatah Constitution (not to be confused with the PLO Charter) was never cancelled and still calls for Israel’s destruction in ten of its clauses, including calling for a “revolution” utilizing terrorism against Israel as an indispensable element in the effort to achieve that goal and also calling for international action to stop Jews from moving to Israel;
• A PA leader demands that even future Jew-killers arrested by Israel must be released; and
• A Fatah emblem showing all Israel labelled ‘Palestine’ and draped in a Palestinian headdress, flanked by a Kalashnikov rifle and an image of arch-terrorist Yasser Arafat.