JERUSALEM (JTA) — John Kerry has put Israel in an “impossible situation,” Knesset member Ayelet Shaked wrote in a letter to the U.S. secretary of state.
“You have forced us into peace talks during a period of time that the entire Middle-East is in chaos, without realizing that by doing so, you have foolishly put us in an impossible situation, in which we cannot and will not make any concessions,” Shaked, chairwoman of the Jewish Home party’s faction in the Israeli parliament, wrote in the letter sent Thursday.
Shaked also made reference to Israel’s release of Palestinian prisoners who have killed Israelis as a way of pushing the Palestinians back to the negotiating table. The two sides resumed talks Wednesday following a three-year freeze.
“By forcing Israel to capitulate to terrorism by releasing murdering terrorists with so much blood on their hands that the U.S. would never dream of releasing if it was their own citizens murdered – you are not only being extremely hypocritical, but are actually dabbling in experimentation and gambling, by putting me and my children’s lives at risk,” Shaked, 37, a mother of two from Tel Aviv, also wrote.
She also brought up jailed American spy-for-Israel Jonathan Pollard, calling the release of Palestinian prisoners “more absurd” because the U.S. has refused to release him after 26 years in prison.
Shaked suggested that Kerry turn his attention to Syria and Egypt, “where people are actually being slaughtered.”
The letter also was sent to U.S. Ambassador to Israel Dan Shapiro and Israel’s ambassador to the United States, Michael Oren.
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