U.S. Envoy Sorry Only for ‘Timing’ of Israel Criticism
Image by Getty Images
JERUSALEM — U.S. Ambassador to Israel Dan Shapiro says he regrets the timing of his criticisms of Israel’s policies in the West Bank.
Shapiro in a speech at a Tel Aviv conference organized by the Institute for National Security Studies on Jan. 18, said that “at times it seems Israel has two standards of adherence to rule of law in the West Bank — one for Jews and one for Palestinians.” He also said: “Too much Israeli vigilantism in the West Bank goes on unchecked.”
His comments came the same day as the funeral of Dafna Meir, who was stabbed to death by a teenage Palestinian assailant in her West Bank home the day before. Her funeral was attended by hundreds, including several government ministers.
“I understand the timing was not ideal,” Shapiro told Army Radio on Monday morning, a week after the remarks that raised the ire of the Israeli government and its supporters. “I began with condemnations of the terror attacks in Otniel and Tekoa. There were only one or two controversial sentences, and if it hurt the Meir family or those mourning her, of course I regret that.”
Shapiro also told Army Radio that the current lack of communication between Israel and the Palestinians is bringing the region closer to a binational state.
He told both Army Radio and Israel Radio, also in an interview on Monday morning, that with each settlement expansion or Palestinian attack on an Israeli civilian the prospect of a two-state solution is getting more distant.
Prime Minister’s Office of Israel issued a statement following Shapiro’s Jan. 18 remarks condemning them as “unacceptable and incorrect.”
“The words of the ambassador, on a day in which a murdered mother of six is buried and on a day in which a pregnant woman is stabbed — are unacceptable and incorrect,” the statement said. “Israel enforces the law for Israelis and Palestinians. The Palestinian Authority is the one responsible for the diplomatic freeze, and continues to incite and refuse talks.”
A message from our CEO & publisher Rachel Fishman Feddersen
I hope you appreciated this article. Before you move on, I wanted to ask you to support the Forward’s award-winning journalism during our High Holiday Monthly Donor Drive.
If you’ve turned to the Forward in the past 12 months to better understand the world around you, we hope you will support us with a gift now. Your support has a direct impact, giving us the resources we need to report from Israel and around the U.S., across college campuses, and wherever there is news of importance to American Jews.
Make a monthly or one-time gift and support Jewish journalism throughout 5785. The first six months of your monthly gift will be matched for twice the investment in independent Jewish journalism.
— Rachel Fishman Feddersen, Publisher and CEO
