Poor Lurch.
Via Free Beacon:
Secretary of State John Kerry offered numerous times to fly to Cairo or Jerusalem to assist in cease-fire negotiations but was told that the sides “didn’t need American mediation,” according to an account of events by Haaretz.
Senior Israeli officials told Haaretz that Kerry offered to come to directly join the talks in each and every call during the attempted brokering of a cease-fire between Israel and Hamas on Monday, but was “politely rejected” by all sides.
Egypt wanted to prove that it could play its traditional diplomatic role with regards to Gaza without U.S. assistance. Israel thought that a visit by Kerry would make it look like the United States pressured Israel to make a deal, which would have been a public relations victory for Hamas.