http://www.politico.com/blogs/politico-live/2014/07/kerry-caught-on-open-mic-192463.html?hp=l2 By BYRON TAU |
7/20/14 9:39 AM EDT
Secretary of State John Kerry was caught on an open mic prior to his interview with “Fox News Sunday” candidly speaking about the conflict in Gaza.
“It’s a hell of a pinpoint operation, it’s a hell of a pinpoint operation,” Kerry said to an aide on the phone, with some measure of frustration.
His comments seemed to be criticizing the Israeli government’s assurances about the limited scope of its attack and ground invasion of Gaza.
Kerry, speaking by phone to one of his top aides, then added: “We’ve got to get over there. Thank you John. I think John, we ought to go tonight. I think it’s crazy to be sitting around.”
Kerry was confronted on air by host Chris Wallace, who asked if Kerry was implying that the Israeli government had gone too far in its Gaza operations.
“While you were on camera and while you were on microphone, you just talked to one of your top aides about the situation in Israel and the fact that 14 Israelis have apparently been shot and killed in an operation,” Wallace said.
Kerry stood by his comments, while defending Israel’s right to defend itself.
“It’s tough to have these kind of operations. I reacted obviously in a way that anybody does with respect to young children and civilians,” Kerry said,
“War is tough. I’ve said that publicly and i’ve said it again. We defend Israeli’s right to do what it is doing,” Kerry said.
“We support Israel’s right to defend itself against rockets that are continuing to come in. Hamas has started its process of rocketing after Israel was trying to find the people who killed 3 young [people] — one American kid, three young Israelis,” Kerry said.
