Erdan accuses State Department of putting out ‘idiotic declarations’ equating Israeli and Palestinian actions; Ya’alon says Washington misguided in understanding conflict

 JERUSALEM  ONLINE

Israeli ministers outraged over US State Department criticism

Israeli ministers condemn the US State Department for a statement made by Spokesperson John Kirby yesterday, according to which Israel is using excessive force against Palestinian terrorists in the recent wave of violence.

 

Oct 15, 2015, 12:50PM | Yael Klein

 

 

Israeli officials are furious following the statement made yesterday by US State Department Spokesperson John Kirby, according to which the Israeli security forces "may be using excessive force" when thwarting Palestinian terror attacks. "The statement is so distorted and groundless that I expect President Obama and Secretary of State John Kerry to renounce it and clarify the United States' position," Israeli Public Security Minister Gilad Erdan stated this morning.

Minister Erdan, who is in charge of the police forces in the field, stressed that the instructions given to the forces are moral and justified. "Every sane person knowns how the police in the US would react if terrorists armed with axes and knives tried to murder civilians in New York or in Washington. I say this before even beginning to mention the US bombing of a hospital in Afghanistan during their justified fight against terrorism," he stated. "Hypocrisy must know some limits."

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Top ministers criticize US officials over terror comments

Erdan accuses State Department of putting out ‘idiotic declarations’ equating Israeli and Palestinian actions; Ya’alon says Washington misguided in understanding conflict

 

By Times of Israel staff October 15, 2015, 11:11 am 31

 

 

Public Security Minister Gilad Erdan (center) seen at the site where a Jewish teenager was lightly injured when he was stabbed by a Palestinian in Jerusalem on October 9, 2015. (Yonatan Sindel/Flash90)

 

 

Friday, October 16, 2015 | 08:46:45 AM

Two top ministers lashed out on Thursday at American officials for what they described as equivocation over Palestinian terror attacks and a US State Department statement that appeared to accept accusations that Israel has used excessive force in recent days.

Within minutes of the comments by Public Security Minister Gilad Erdan, and Defense Minister Moshe Ya’alon Thursday morning, a top Prime Minister’s Office official informed cabinet ministers that they were being ordered by Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu to cease all public criticism of American officials.

US Secretary of State John Kerry and a spokesman for the department have in recent days appeared to link or equate a spate of Palestinian terror attacks against Israelis with Israeli policies in the West Bank and on the Temple Mount, a position Erdan called “idiotic.”

“I don’t know whether to call them naive, in the US State Department and in the American government,” a visibly angry Erdan, who oversees the police forces battling the terror wave, told Army Radio Thursday morning. “Instead of putting out idiotic declarations that pretend to address two equally guilty sides, they [should] focus pressure on the murderous, inciting Palestinian Authority; because of its incitement, young people go out and commit murderous acts.”

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