A Disproportionate Response

Anytime Israel responds to rocket fire from Gaza with IDF action, we see the media, the UN, the EU, and of course the left-wing American Jews all complaining of Israel's "disproportionate" response.  It was just a few rockets, there were hardly any casualties, they will say.  Sure, it was technically bad, but Israel needs to use proportionality in its response, the chorus cries.

The concept of proportionality, however, seems to be entirely missing from the discussion of the latest crisis in negotiations, and most particularly from Kerry's analysis of it.  There does not seem to be any debate about the fact that Israel's release of the fourth batch of murderers had only been delayed, not cancelled, when Abbas made his grand show of applying to 15 UN bodies and treaties.  I have seen different reasons given for the cause of the delay, with the Naharnet website quoting Livni saying that there was disagreement as to which individuals would be released, and other news outlets saying the extension of the negotiations was being discussed.  But I have not seen any reputable news organization saying that Israel had actually cancelled the release at that point.

Considering that once these murderers are freed, their freedom is permanent (at least until they commit more crimes), and considering that their release is purely a political device and has nothing to do with the individuals' own guilt or innocence, or any due process concerns, a delay of a few days while additional details are being discussed hardly seems like a major infraction.  Since there was never any agreement to halt settlement construction during negotiations, and especially not in Jewish neighborhoods of Jerusalem, the announcement of those units was not in any way a breach of any agreement.  Abbas's response, a flagrant violation of the terms under which negotiations were taking place, is hugely out of proportion to the perceived offenses.  So where's the outcry?

Kerry: When All Else Fails, Blame the Jews

I'm not disappointed that the talks failed. No one who has a realistic grasp of the situation could have expected otherwise.  But I did think that *when* the talks failed, our President and Secretary of State would finally come to grips with the fact that it is the Palestinians who are unwilling to accept peace, even when it is offered to them.  Apparently even that was naive.

As I have noted earlier in this blog, as the negotiations went on, Abbas stated repeatedly that he would not make a single concession, seemingly oblivious to the definition of the word "negotiate."  And it does appear that within the secrecy of the negotiations, he stuck by his public statements, rejecting Kerry's "framework" proposals and refusing to extend the negotiation schedule.  Indeed, by all appearances, his only intent in entering into negotiations at all was to accept the proffered bribe of prisoner releases, without offering up one single thing in return.  Israel, for its part, released over 70 murderers from jail without, in the end, getting anything at all in exchange except more bad PR.  Those individuals are now free, treated as heroes, getting paid a stipend with international funds, and despite the lack of any progress at all, they are never going back. No settlement freeze was ever part of the agreement, least of all, not in Jerusalem.  And yet Kerry is so blind, so married to his fanciful worldview, that he blames 700 apartments in the Jewish section of Jerusalem for the collapse of the talks. When all else fails, blame the Jews.