Cruz, Other Republicans Call For Kerry’s Ouster Following ‘Apartheid’ Remarks About Israel
Senator Ted Cruz (R-Texas) called for Secretary of State John Kerry’s resignation Monday following the top U.S. diplomat’s remarks that Israel risks becoming an apartheid state if current peace talks with Palestinians fail.
Kerry, who was angered at Israel’s recent decision to walk away from the talks after a unity deal was struck between rival Palestinian factions, said, “A two-state solution will be clearly underscored as the only real alternative. Because a unitary state winds up either being an apartheid state with second-class citizens – or it ends up being a state that destroys the capacity of Israel to be a Jewish state.
“Once you put that frame in your mind, that reality, which is the bottom line, you understand how imperative it is to get to the two-state solution, which both leaders, even yesterday, said they remain deeply committed to.”
On the Senate floor, Cruz called for Kerry’s immediate departure.
“John Kerry should offer President Obama his resignation and the president should accept it,” Cruz said.
Noting that Kerry’s remarks brought him “great sadness,” the Texas Senator went on, “There is no place for this word in the context of the state of Israel. The term ‘apartheid,’ means ‘apart, different, isolated.’ The state of the victims of apartheid with which the Jews are tragically all too familiar.”
Cruz is one of a growing number of Republicans who have decried the diplomat’s remarks.
“Reports that Secretary Kerry has suggested Israel is becoming an apartheid state are extremely disappointing,” House GOP Leader Eric Cantor (R-Va.) said in a statement. “The use of the word apartheid has routinely been dismissed as both offensive and inaccurate, and Secretary Kerry’s use of it makes peace even harder to achieve.”
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