Update 7/31/14 - Charles Krauthammer wrote a column today carrying further David Ignatius's article below. Krauthammer titled his piece, "Legitimizing Hamas's War Criminality" which carries the subtitle: "Our scretary of state has alienated both Israel and our moderate Arab partners."
Whatever his intent, Kerry legitimized Hamas’s war criminality. Which makes his advocacy of Hamas’s terms not just a strategic blunder — enhancing an American-designated terror group just when a wall-to-wall Arab front wants to see it gone — but a moral disgrace.
(Original Post) - David Ignatius of the Washington Post writes:
Secretary of State John Kerry has made a significant mistake in how he’s pursuing a Gaza cease-fire — and it’s not surprising that he has upset both the Israelis and some moderate Palestinians.
Kerry’s error has been to put so much emphasis on achieving a quick halt to the bloodshed that he has solidified the role of Hamas, the intractable, unpopular Islamist group that leads Gaza, along with the two hard-line Islamist nations that are its key supporters, Qatar and Turkey. In the process, he has undercut not simply the Israelis but also the Egyptians and the Fatah movement that runs the Palestinian Authority, all of which want to see an end to Hamas rule in Gaza. [more...]
Me: The U.S. is run by keystone cops whose ineptness makes new headlines every day.