Internal Security Minister Gilad Erdan asserted on Thursday that the US State Department has always been hostile to Israel, and still is.
Responding to the State Department’s claim that Israel had used “unreasonable force” to fight terrorists, Erdan told Army Radio that while the US could be expected to comment on violence in the region, “for the State Department to accept the lies that are presented to it as truth without investigation is very strange, considering that we have all the evidence as to the truth of these matters.
In a statement on Wednesday night, the State Department said that “we’ve certainly seen some reports of what many would consider excessive use of force [by Israel].”
Speaking to reporters, State Department spokesperson John Kirby said that Secretary of State John Kerry would soon come to the region, and that he urged both Israel and the Palestinians to return to the negotiating table.
Israel, said Erdan, does not use “excessive force. The police do not bother innocent people. When police or Israeli citizens take action, it is to protect life, within the parameters of the law.”
Erdan also commented on the speech Wednesday by Palestinian Authority chairman Mahmoud Abbas, who claimed, among other things, that the stabber of a 13-year-old boy from Pisgat Zeev in Jerusalem earlier this week was actually a victim of an Israeli “execution.”
Erdan said that while Israel would have liked to pick up negotiations with Abbas at some point in the future, “I don’t see how that would be possible now.”
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