MK Nitzan Horowitz (Meretz) has asked Knesset members to join him in requesting an urgent plenum discussion regarding a video advertisement produced by nationalists, attacking US Secretary of State John Kerry for his attempts to foist what they say is a bad peace deal on Israel.
Horwitz noted that the video is a collaboration by the Yesha Council, an unofficial body representing leaders of the settlement enterprise in Judea and Samaria; My Israel ("Yisrael Sheli"), a nationalist advocacy group established by Naftali Bennett before he took over the Jewish Home party, and the Binyamin Regional Council.
The rookie parliamentarian and former television reporter said that the video is part of “a large scale campaign to defame” Kerry.
"This joins the unceasing efforts by the Right to damage the diplomatic process,” he added. Making matters worse, he claimed, is the fact that the bodies leading the campaign receive government and public funding.
The video portrays Kerry as a salesman who forces a series of bad solutions on a client, gradually destroying his life. His slogan: “We don't have good solutions – but hey, we have to do something, right?” refers to Kerry's tireless efforts to get Israel and the Palestinian Authority to sign a peace deal – an effort that is being blamed for an upsurge in Arab terrorism.
It is part of a Hebrew-language website that contains two other videos that drive home a message that the US has made numerous mistakes in the Middle East in recent years, and that Israel should not fear saying “no” to the US, as it has done on past occasions.
Yigal Dilmoni, Deputy Director of the Yesha Council, reacted by saying that Horwitz's statement shows the campaign has been successful. “The Left's fear and their desire to take action against the campaign proves that they have been joining and encouraging the American pressure on Israel.”
"As our website and the videos show, it is very important at this time not to give in to US dictates and not to do what is good for John Kerry's reputation, but what is good for the state of Israel.”