Former US secretary of state John Kerry suggested that then-Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu should visit Afghanistan to see a model for a solution for the Israeli-Palestinian conflict, Netanyahu wrote on Facebook this past Wednesday.
Netanyahu wrote, "In 2013 [Kerry] invited me on a secret visit to Afghanistan to see, in his words, how the US established a local military force that can stand up to terror on its own." Netanyahu noted he had "politely declined," and he recalled thinking at the time that Afghanistan would crumble after the US left.
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Netanyahu wrote, "That, unfortunately, is what is happening now: An Islamist extremist regime conquered Afghanistan and will turn it into a terror state that will endanger the world. We will get an identical result if, God forbid, we give parts of our homeland to the Palestinians. The Palestinians will not establish Singapore, they will establish a terror state in Judea and Samaria, a short distance from Ben-Gurion Airport, Tel Aviv, Kfar Saba and Netanya."
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A senior official who was part of Netanyahu’s government at the time, who was privy to the talks between Kerry and Netanyahu, confirmed Netanyahu’s statement to the Jerusalem Post. Later, he added that Kerry had suggested to Netanyahu that he travel in disguise.
Dore Gold, the president of the Jerusalem Center for Public Affairs, who was also the Foreign Ministry director-general under Netanyahu, stated it is important for Israel to study the US pullout from Afghanistan. Gold insisted that the message of the situation in Afghanistan is, "that Israel’s doctrine of self-reliance has no replacement."
Gold stated that, "Israel understood all along that its defense doctrine cannot be based on foreign forces, but the ability of Israel to defend itself by itself. That became the mantra of those defending Israel’s right to defensible borders… The idea that Israel could rely on foreign forces was firmly rejected by Israeli prime ministers from [Yitzhak] Rabin through Netanyahu."
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American diplomats have long tried to convince Israel to allow international forces to stop a terrorist threat from the Palestinians but "Netanyahu was very firm in rejecting this idea," Gold added.
Back in 2019, Netanyahu said in a campaign speech that Afghanistan was one of the countries he had visited as prime minister. He later clarified that he meant Azerbaijan, which he had visited in 2016.
In a tweet about the gaffe, Netanyahu wrote, “Who knows? Maybe in my next term.”
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