Israel Matzav

US officials said to be outraged over Hamas letter handed to Kerry

Fox News reports that US officials are 'outraged' over a letter that was handed to Senate Foreign Relations Committee Chairman John Kerry during a visit to Gaza last week by an UNRWA official. According to the network, Kerry handed the letter over to American consulate officials in Jerusalem without having read it. Kerry only learned of its contents through the media. Kerry is in Damascus today meeting with Syrian President Bashar al-Assad.

U.S. officials in Jerusalem are outraged at the United Nations Relief and Works agency for apparently handing the letter off to Kerry.

The official source who spoke to FOX News argued that if the U.N. had a letter from Hamas, it should have given U.S. officials a heads-up before the news was leaked to media organizations.

The Hamas official who wrote the letter confirmed to FOX News that he wrote Obama personally, asking him not to be biased toward Israel in its conflict with the Palestinians and to act fairly. He also said Hamas is ready to talk directly to a new American administration.

This Hamas official insists he had the backing of the group to write the letter, but it appears the official acted alone.

Kerry turned the letter over to the U.S. consulate in Jerusalem on Friday and his spokesman told FOX News that the Democratic senator was not aware that the letter was from Hamas when he accepted it from an official with the U.N. relief agency.

Kerry told FOX News that he never read the letter because it was sandwich among other promotional papers the U.N. gave him. A State Department official confirmed to FOX News that it was from Hamas and is now under review.

A potential concern was whether such a letter would violate the United States' policy toward Hamas. Obama has said his administration will not engage in diplomatic talks with Hamas unless the group renounces terrorism and affirms Israel's right to exist.

In addition, a U.S. official said there were security issues with the letter. The official who spoke to FOX News said there is concern that Hamas had advance notice that Kerry was visiting, which may raise issues of trust with the U.N. on future diplomatic trips.

Given that UNRWA has admitted that it employs terrorists, should anyone really be surprised that the terrorists knew Kerry's schedule? If Hamas did not think it was going to be treated favorably by the Obama administration, and if it didn't regard Kerry as a step toward that favorable treatment, does anyone really believe they would not try to kill him? Wake up America! Hamas is not a bunch of children in Halloween costumes trying to scare you. There are reasons that the Bush administration and the Israeli government - across the board - refused to deal with them. Does anyone really believe they're going to change their colors now?

posted by Carl in Jerusalem @ 3:19 PM