Following his speech Wednesday morning at the State Department in which he discussed his vision for Israeli-Palestinian relations going forward, Secretary of State John Kerry sat for an interview with MSNBC’s Andrea Mitchell in which said that President-elect Donald Trump‘s social media dispatches on foreign policy are “having an impact on allies.”
“I think it is having an impact on allies who are questioning what’s going on,” Kerry said. However, he added, “They are not going to be swayed and intimidated by a tweet. They’re going to pursue their interests and their own values. That’s what diplomacy is about.”
Wednesday, Kerry opted not to return fire at Trump over his criticism of President Barack Obama on matters relating to Israel:
We cannot continue to let Israel be treated with such total disdain and disrespect. They used to have a great friend in the U.S., but…….
— Donald J. Trump (@realDonaldTrump) December 28, 2016
not anymore. The beginning of the end was the horrible Iran deal, and now this (U.N.)! Stay strong Israel, January 20th is fast approaching!
— Donald J. Trump (@realDonaldTrump) December 28, 2016
“I’m not going to get into a debate with the President-elect on, you know, twitter or whatever,” Kerry said. He added, “There is plenty of time afterwards when they are governing.”
Despite the clear disagreement between the outgoing and incoming administrations, the current Secretary of State made it clear that the State department will only go so far on certain matters.
“I think there are limits to what the administration can undertake at this point in time,” Kerry said. “We understand that.”
Watch above, via MSNBC.
[featured image via screengrab]
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