Israel Matzav: State Department dismisses Kerry letter on Code Pink's behalf as 'form letter'

Friday, November 15, 2013

State Department dismisses Kerry letter on Code Pink's behalf as 'form letter'

The State Department is dismissing a three-year old letter written by then-Senator John FN Kerry on behalf of Code Pink members seeking access to Gaza as a 'form letter' after the letter came to prominence again this week.

A State Department official reportedly told The Blaze, “The letter from then-Senator Kerry regarding the humanitarian mission in Israel and the Palestinian territories was a form letter that was auto-penned — standard constituent mail that congressional members send out as a common practice,” the official said. “Senator Kerry never saw it, nor did his senior staff see it. It was put together by his Boston office, and would also not have involved senior staff members on the Senate Foreign Relations Committee.”

“Moreover, the text of the letter has nothing to do with the flotilla incident or even Gaza. It focuses purely on a humanitarian mission in Israel and the Palestinian territories in support of the peace process,” the official concluded.

I was one of the bloggers who publicized the letter, which I got from Breitbart.com's Big Government site. Here is what I quoted from it:

In the letter, Kerry wrote that his staff met with the Massachusetts delegation before they left, and his staff would be briefed about the trip upon their return.

Code Pink co-founders Jodie Evans and Medea Benjamin used Kerry’s letter at the U.S. Embassy in Cairo, Egypt to pressure the Egyptian government to allow 1300 leftists passage into Gaza from Egypt. The leftists gathered in Cairo from around the world to mark the one-year anniversary of Israel’s defense against Hamas’ rocket and mortar attacks.

Images of the letters from Kerry and [Representative Andre] Carson [(D-Indiana) were posted by the publisher of The Electronic Intifada, Ali Abunimah, on his blog at Posterous.com. [Abunimah is a close friend and early supporter of Barak Hussein Obama. CiJ].

Abunimah wrote that he, Benjamin and Kit Kettridge met for over an hour with “three officials, including Gina Cabrera, head of US citizen services, and Gregory D. LoGerfo, First Secretary in the Office of Economic and Political Affairs. The third official, whose name I did not note, identified himself as a ‘regional security’ official.”

Benjamin and Kettridge also met with “the embassy’s Deputy Director Matthew Tuellar, in command while Ambassador Scobey was on leave,” according to Abunimah.

(Margaret Scobey is a career Foreign Service officer who was appointed ambassador to Egypt by President George W. Bush in 2008.)

The Christian Science Monitor mentioned Kerry’s letter in a report from Cairo, but failed to question why the chairman of the Senate Foreign Relations Committee was supporting the anti-Israel, pro-Hamas Gaza Freedom March.

The letter was written on letterhead from Kerry’s Boston office. The name and phone number of staffer Christopher Wyman was included as a point of contact.
Not only do the Democrats not treat terrorists as combatants - they support them (what else do you think Code Pink was doing by going to Gaza?).

The State Department is now dismissing Obama's pal Ali Abunimah:

The letter makes no mention of pro-Palestinian activism in general, nor the Gaza flotillas in particular. The Blaze reports that initial claims that the letter had been authored by Kerry in an expression of pro-Palestinian support originated with both Ali Abunimah, co-founder of the Electronic Intifada website and a supporter of the Boycott, Divestment and Sanctions (BDS) movement against Israel, and Jodie Pink, a US anti-war activist.

That would be Jodie Evans (not 'Jodie Pink'), shown here.

And the Code Pink members never planned to go anywhere but Gaza via Egypt. And given what we know about Code Pink, one ought to question why Senator Kerry (or President Obama) would have anything to do with them in the first place.

Last week's Reminder presented the story of women going to the Middle East under the auspices of Codepink. Their stated purpose was to "take a stand for the people of Gaza."

Although much was said about Israel and Gaza, what wasn't mentioned was the nature of Codepink.

A quick look at the Codepink Web site and materials makes it clear that it is a one-sided organization that does not recognize the right of America to defend itself against al-Qaeda or the Taliban.

Nor does it recognize the right of Israel to fight a war of survival against the terrorist group Hamas, armed by Iran.

Hamas seeks to destroy the state of Israel and has a history of launching missiles deeper and deeper into Israel. The distance between Gaza and Tel Aviv is about the same as between Springfield and Worcester. Would we in America give up the right of self-defense if a hostile force controlled territory that close? How is it that the Codepink Web site is silent on these rockets falling well within the state of Israel?

I wonder why no one seems to have contacted Christopher Wyman about this....

Labels: Ali Abunimah, Code Pink, Gaza, John Kerry, Medea Benjamin, US State Department