Pathetic.
Via CNS News:
Secretary of State John Kerry and a State Department spokeswoman on Thursday both sidestepped opportunities to criticize the warm reception Palestinian Authority chairman Mahmoud Abbas gave to a group of prisoners, most convicted of murder, freed by Israel this week as part of U.S.-brokered peace negotiations.
Arriving in Jerusalem on his tenth visit aimed at prodding peace talks, Kerry listened with apparent discomfort as Prime Minister Binyamin Netanyahu during a joint media appearance questioned Abbas’ commitment to peace.
“To glorify the murders of innocent women and men as heroes is an outrage,” Netanyahu said. “How can he [Abbas] say that he stands against terrorism when he embraces the perpetrators of terrorism and glorifies them as heroes?” […]
At a press briefing in Washington, State Department spokeswoman Marie Harf was asked about Netanyahu’s comments alongside Kerry.
She acknowledged that “the release of prisoners has every time been a bit of a difficult process,” called the decision to free them “courageous,” but said Kerry was “focused on where we go from here.”
Asked whether the administration shared Netanyahu’s “unhappiness at the reception” Abbas had given the freed men, Harf replied, “I think I’ll let the prime minister’s words speak for himself.”