John Kerry tries to take credit for Abraham Accord idea that he ridiculed in 2016

When the announcement of an accord between Israel and the UAE came out last month, John Kerry tweeted this:

This tweet is interesting for a couple of reasons. 

First of all, he doesn't congratulate the Israelis or the Trump administration for their role in this agreement - only the UAE, the only party that deserves credit. In other words, its intransigence in not recognizing Israel from its birth until now is considered normal and making peace is extraordinary, while Israel's desire for peace since its own rebirth is considered normal and not worth mentioning. This is a typical example of anti-Arab bigotry by so-called liberals who accept Arab hate as natural and say that Israel isn't doing enough to deserve peace with anyone.

But more astonishing is Kerry's desire to take credit himself for the agreement, saying that the initiative builds on "years of work to advance regional peace." He is saying that he laid the groundwork for this agreement by working hard for regional peace between Israel and its neighbors before the Trump administration. 

Did he?

Fox News reports:

A 2016 clip of Kerry resurfaced that cast doubt that any peace between Israel and the Arab world was possible without Palestinians being onboard.

"There will be no separate peace between Israel and the Arab world," Kerry began at a speaking engagement. "I want to make that very clear with all of you. I've heard several prominent politicians in Israel sometimes saying, 'Well, the Arab world is in a different place now. We just have to reach out to them. We can work some things with the Arab world and we'll deal with the Palestinians.' No. No, no, and no."

He continued, "I can tell you that, reaffirmed within the last week because I've talked to the leaders of the Arab community, there will be no advanced and separate peace with the Arab world without the Palestinian process and Palestinian peace. Everybody needs to understand that. That is a hard reality."

What a tool.

Any decent diplomat knows that what other diplomats say and what they think are hardly ever in alignment. In 2016, when Kerry insisted that the Arab world will never make separate peace with Israel, these same Gulf countries had already been withholding aid to Palestinians for years because they were no longer supportive of that cause - they were sick of the PLO's corruption and the split between Hamas and Fatah. Even the Palestinians publicly complained that the Arab world was not fulfilling its pledges.

The same year that Kerry described the "hard reality," I wrote:

If you follow the money, you can see that the Arab world has far less interest in helping Palestinians than their rhetoric would indicate. I believe that this is in a large part due to the intransigence and feelings of entitlement from Palestinian leadership.

The Arab and Muslim worlds are sick and tired of the Palestinian issue and they have been for many years now. The Palestinians are panicking over how the priorities of the Arab world have moved away from them. But a lot of it is their own fault for refusing to negotiate with Israel in good faith and accepting a state that is a little bit less than their demands. Arab leaders are wondering whether it was worth it for Palestinians to refuse Israeli offers of peace which should have ended the conflict long ago.

Palestinian leaders whining for attention from their villas in Ramallah while there are real crises in the region are making them look more and more foolish, but decades of basking in the glow of Arab pro-Palestinian propaganda have made Abbas and his people blind to what is really going on.

But this Arab thinking goes back to at least 2008, before the first Obama administration.  Here's what I wrote then:

This is the crux of the issue, one that the US, EU and media just can't figure out:

The rich Arab oil barons do not consider the PA to be a good investment.

Even though oil prices have gone up sixfold in the past six years, that it not the issue for the Gulf nations: it is that there is little chance that anything is going to change. Hamas and Fatah remain split and there cannot be a comprehensive peace agreement between Israel and the PA while Hamas controls Gaza.

Some Arab states do directly fund things like ambulances and schools. But they see no reason to throw money at the bloated PA payroll where "security officers" sit around and do nothing and the PA continues to pay even their employees in Gaza who cannot work under Hamas.

When people invest money, even to charities, they want to get as much bang for the buck as possible. 

The Arab nations know the mentality of the Palestinian Arabs better than the West. They have already spent money, time and rhetoric on the PA. They have seen the Palestinian Arab leadership consistently shoot itself in the foot rather than act pragmatically and in ways that are best for the PalArabs themselves.

They have had enough.

The Arab nations see what all their efforts and money have bought them. They will publicly blame Israel, as always, but their true attitudes can be seen in their wallets. They'd rather buy New York real estate than help their Palestinian Arab "brothers" because these brothers have wasted their money in the past and will continue to do so. Rather than compromise and start building a real state, a real economy and creating real jobs, the PalArabs remain stuck in their welfare mentality, railing at the world for not doing enough for them while they do nothing for themselves.

When will the West demand real accountability from the PA as well?

Kerry had all the information available and chose to ignore it. He chose to believe the Arab autocrats in their insistence of their support for Palestinians when they themselves had long before given up on them.

He could have brokered the Abraham Accords but his hate for Israel is what blinded him to that possibility.

Now he claims that he laid the groundwork for the historic agreement.

The technical term for someone like this is "shmuck."

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