Can Kerry Continue?

Sen. Ted Cruz likes to be out ahead on things.

Secretary of State John Kerry (Credit: State.gov)

The Texas Republicans has called for Secretary of State John Kerry to resign for his slander of Israel reported by the Daily Beast, comparing the country’s defending itself to South African apartheid.   

But Cruz won’t stand alone this time around. 

There is already bipartisancondemnation from Democratic Sens. Barbara Boxer of California and Mark Begich of Alaska. Though like most Republicans who condemned the remarks, they stopped short of demanding a resignation – for now. 

From the Daily Beast:

“A two-state solution will be clearly underscored as the only real alternative. Because a unitary state winds up either being an apartheid state with second-class citizens—or it ends up being a state that destroys the capacity of Israel to be a Jewish state,” Kerry told the group of senior officials and experts from the U.S., Western Europe, Russia, and Japan. “Once you put that frame in your mind, that reality, which is the bottom line, you understand how imperative it is to get to the two-state solution, which both leaders, even yesterday, said they remain deeply committed to.”

Kerry of course has attempted to walk back the comment, but one wonders if that works any better than walking back the “botched joke” in 2006. This surely won’t be forgotten.

Some are calling this anti-Semitism. I won’t judge Kerry’s heart. It doesn’t help that the reports surfaced on the eve of Holocaust Remembrance Day.

But one has to question his judgment and whether he can function in a role of leading U.S. foreign policy. When he became Secretary of State he gave up the option of speaking for himself. Now, he is always speaking for the country. And in doing so, he attacked America’s most valuable ally in the Middle East in a way that the U.S. 

As Boxer said, “Israel is the only democracy in the Middle East and any linkage between Israel and apartheid is nonsensical and ridiculous.” Yet this administration is not making similar slanderous comments about very undemocratic countries. The worst we've heard about Russia's thuggery that it's a "regional power."

He may be somewhat insulated from demands for resignation given his chumminess with most members of the Senate – including many Republicans he served with.

But Sen. John McCain and some other Republicans who found his former GOP colleague Chuck Hagel unacceptable to be Defense Secretary – in part because of Hagel’s views on Israel – will have a tough time going to bat for Kerry.

Kerry had sought a historic role for himself, with deals to de-nuke Iran and broker a long sought after peace deal between Israel and Palestine. Those ambitions could unravel. It’s difficult to imagine he can continue leading peace negotiations after these remarks. The question is less: Should he resign? It’s really; can he even continue to function effectively in the job?