John Kerry & U. S. foreign policy | Eastern North Carolina Now

    Publisher's Note: Jim Bispo's column appears in the Beaufort Observer.

    An AP article appearing in the April Fools Day (4/1/2014 - the timing seems appropriate) Tampa Tribune indicated that the U.S. was considering the release of Jonathan Pollard, a former U.S. Navy intelligence analyst, who was arrested in 1985 and convicted of spying for Israel. The release was to be in return for some Israeli concessions Kerry promised the Palestinians. A crumb for the Jews. Pollard was sentenced to life but is eligible for parole in November 2015. .. (Is that what "non sequitur" means??)

    But wait!!

    Our itinerant Secretary of State thought he had negotiated a deal - or at least the framework of a deal for the release. ("Frameworks" and "deals" are two different things, in case you were wondering.) According to the article, Israel would have to make some rather significant concessions. The AP article made it sound as though the U.S. Secretary of State was negotiating with the Israelis on behalf of the Palestinians. (Maybe the article is not an April fools Joke. Maybe the SOS is the joke. Hmmm...)

    In any case, the Tribune reports that in return for Pollard's release, Israel would be required to make some significant concessions, which reportedly could include a freeze on Israeli settlements in disputed territory and the release of more Palestinian prisoners than those to which Israel has already agreed. If that doesn't sound like our intrepid SOS is negotiating on behalf off the Palestinians, ("I'll do this for you if you will do that for the Palestinians".) I don't know what does...

    Do you suppose that negotiating with the Israelis for and in behalf of the Palestinians is any indication of how sure the Anointed One is of the support of the American Jews?? Let's negotiate with Israel in behalf of the Palestinians and to hell with the American Jews. The sad thing about this entire drill is that the Anointed One is (mostly) correct about the support angle.

    I suppose we should be happy that the "deal" fell apart.... Interesting that even Pollard reportedly didn't like it... But why wouldn't it come unglued when you have a self important idiot trying to negotiate in behalf of the Palestinians. The American Jews don't seem to be bothered too much with the anointed One's treatment, but the Israeli Jews don't seem to be overly infatuated with the idea... I wonder if "the word" will ever get back here.. It is becoming ever more clear that our intrepid Secretary of State seems to be good at finding rich women to marry, but not much else.

    And now he suggests that Israel would be an "apartheid" country if the "Two State" option doesn't work out. Even the dyed in the wool Dem Barbara Boxer found fault with that characterization. Then he and his spear carriers at the State Department tried to spin him out of the box in which he found himself.

    Of course, there are those who would suggest that "apartheid" may not be such a bad idea. Especially when it is directed against the Palestinians who over the years have seemed to be unable to negotiate in good faith. Typically, they go to some exotic place to negotiate. They "cut a deal" (frequently involving "land for peace") and by the time they get home, the terms of the deal are in shreds. That would be the same folks who seem to have so many mortar shells that they don't know what to do with them all, so they get rid of them by "lobbing" them into Israeli territory. It would also include those who continue ro push for the outright and total elimination of Israel from the face of the earth. Turns out, Kerry's slip of the tongue may have been no more than a Freudian slip..

    It is amazing that first the Anointed One and now his Secretary of State seem unable to demonstrate any regard for the only country in the Middle East that is (used to be?) an ally. In case you were wondering, that would be Israel..

    It is not clear how badly the Anointed One is going to have to treat the American Jews in order to lose their vote. So far it doesn't seem to have happened. But clearly, his spear carriers seem to be testing the limits... Only time will tell...

    D'ya Think??