Eli Lake, Columnist

Kerry Yearns for Peace in a Vanished Middle East

The departing secretary of state still thinks Israeli settlements are the main barrier to regional reconciliation. That's quaint.

December 29, 2016 at 12:30 PM UTC

By Eli Lake

Eli Lake is a Bloomberg Opinion columnist covering national security and foreign policy. He was the senior national security correspondent for the Daily Beast and covered national security and intelligence for the Washington Times, the New York Sun and UPI.

Trouble spot.
Photographer: AHMAD GHARABLI/AFP/Getty Images

Provide news feedback or report an error

Site feedback:

Take our Survey

This article is for subscribers only.

On the surface, Secretary of State John Kerry's speech on Wednesday about the Israeli-Palestinian conflict was an act of liberation. With three weeks left in office he is finally telling it like it is. Israel's current government is "driven by its most extreme elements." Palestinian leaders are "naming public squares, streets and schools after terrorists."

No longer bound by official restraints, Kerry said things in public that U.S. diplomats usually say only behind closed doors.