Naftali Bennett
Naftali BennettFlash 90

The US State Department highly disparaged the remarks of Economics Minister Naftali Bennett (Jewish Home) against Secretary of State John Kerry's linkage of Israeli-Palestinian peace talks and ISIS, claiming that Bennett was "distorting" the remarks for his "own political purposes." 

"I would take issue with the part of your question that Israeli leaders, plural, have disagreed with what they thought the Secretary said," State Department deputy spokeswoman Marie Harf stated Friday, when questioned over Kerry's remarks at a press briefing. "I saw one in particular. And we would say to that that we know passions run high, politics are intense, but either this specific minister did not actually read what the Secretary said, or someone is engaging in the politics of distortion here."

"By any means it is an inaccurate reading of what the Secretary said," Harf continued. "He did not make a linkage between Israel and the growth of ISIL, period."

Later, Harf accused Bennett of having an agenda.

"In terms of this specific Israeli minister’s comments, I think, and I think the Secretary thinks, and everyone thinks that what you say actually matters and not just how someone tries to distort it for their own political purposes," Harf added. 

Kerry sparked ire from at least two ministers - not just from Bennett, but also from Communications Minister GIlad Erdan (Likud) - on Friday, when he claimed that Israel "humiliated" Palestinians and that it led to an "increase in recruitment" in the context of ISIS. 

"It is imperative that we find a way to get back to the negotiations," Kerry said. He then moved on to a separate commentary on ISIS, before juxtaposing the extremist group with peace talks.

"There wasn't a leader I met with in the region who didn't raise with me spontaneously the need to try to get peace between Israel and the Palestinians," he said - referring to the Cairo conference which eventually saw 5.4 billion dollars raised for Hamas - "because it was a cause of recruitment and of street anger and agitation." 

"People need to understand the connection of that," he continued. "And it has something to do with humiliation and denial and absence of dignity." 

Bennett fired back at the comments late Friday, saying that "even when a British Muslim beheads a British Christian there will always be someone who blames the Jews."

Communications Minister Gilad Erdan (Likud) also responded, firing that the remark proved a "lack of understanding" of both the regional situation in general and of the Israeli-Palestinian conflict in particular. 

But Harf has insisted, even after the PLO rallied behind Kerry's comments, that Kerry never actually linked the two.