US ‘surprised’ over British PM Theresa May’s criticism of John Kerry Israel speech

London

A spokesperson for the US state department last night expressed surprise after UK Prime Minister Theresa May  distanced the UK from Washington over John Kerry’s condemnation of Israel.

“We are surprised by the UK Prime Minister’s office statement given that Secretary Kerry’s remarks—which covered the full range of threats to a two state solution, including terrorism, violence, incitement and settlements—were in-line with the UK’s own longstanding policy and its vote at the United Nations last week.”

The US State department has voiced surprise after UK Prime Minister Theresa May’s spokesman said that comments made by John Kerry, the US secretary of state, on settlements were ‘inappropriate’

Kerry, the outgoing secretary of state, delivered a robust speech this week that criticised Benjamin Netanyahu’s government as the “most rightwing coalition in Israeli history” and warned that the rapid expansion of settlements in the occupied territories meant that “the status quo is leading toward one state and perpetual occupation”.

May’s spokesman had said she thought it was not appropriate to make such strongly worded attacks on the makeup of a government or to focus solely on the issue of Israeli settlements.

“We do not believe that it is appropriate to attack the composition of the democratically elected government of an ally,” he said. “The government believes that negotiations will only succeed when they are conducted between the two parties, supported by the international community.”

The UK backed the UN resolution passed last week that condemned the continued expansion of settlements. But May’s spokesman said she was concerned about the language Kerry had used.

“We continue to believe that the construction of settlements in the Occupied Palestinian Territories is illegal, which is why we supported UN security council resolution last week.

“But we are also clear that the settlements are far from the only problem in this conflict. In particular, the people of Israel deserve to live free from the threat of terrorism, with which they have had to cope for too long.”

The US state department’s statement added: “We are grateful for the strongly supportive statements in response to Secretary Kerry’s speech from across the world, including Germany, France, Canada, Jordan, Egypt, Turkey, Saudi Arabia, Qatar, the United Arab Emirates and others.”