Secretary of State Kerry’s first stops — in Rome with the Syrian opposition and in Turkey with Prime Minister Erdogan — were perhaps not as satisfactory as he anticipated. Syrian opposition leaders were thankful for the humanitarian aid but disappointed with the level of commitment to their objectives. In Turkey, he met with a lukewarm reception from Prime Minister Erdogan. This is because of Secretary Kerry’s public response to Prime Minister Erdogan’s address to the UN Alliance of Civilization last Wednesday in Vienna, where he stated, “... just as with Zionism, Anti-Semitism and fascism, it has become necessary to view Islamophobia as a crime against humanity.” Netanyahu condemned the use of Zionism as “a dark and mendacious statement, the likes of which we thought had passed from the world.” Perhaps he was motivated to include Zionism in his statement by the recent death of Palestinian Arafat Jaradat, the continued proliferation of illegal settlements in the West Bank and by Israel’s refusal to apologize for the attack on the Mavi Marmara, in which nine Turks were killed by Israeli soldiers .
It must be observed that his denouncement included anti-Semitism, which, by decoupling it from Zionism, indicates his respect for the Jewish people. While including Zionism in a category with fascism and anti-Semitism might not have been fully precise, its inclusion reflects the cumulative anger of the Turks resulting from the arrogant refusal of Israel to apologize for the deaths of the nine Turks on the Mavi Marmara. This remains an unpardoned provocation.
The State Department called the statement “particularly offensive,” and Secretary Kerry noted in a press conference that the statement was “objectionable.” When Secretary Kerry arrived to his meeting with Prime Minister Erdogan, Erdogan noted, “You must have spoken about everything [with the foreign minister], so there’s nothing left for us to talk about.”
The United States should not underestimate the level of outrage throughout the Arab and Muslim world and the growing support for the Palestinian quest for its national and human rights. It was so sad for the friends of the United States when the United States had only a few countries voting against the UN resolution recognizing Palestine as a non-observer state!
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