“That deterrence policy has failed in my eyes, with equal consequences to the intelligence failure of not foreseeing [the Oct. 7] attack,” said Djerejian. “So that deterrence policy is what’s going to be the end game here after all the bloodshed and the military operations. Are we going back to the status quo ante? I doubt it.”
In an interview with ABC News, Djerejian discussed the key causes of the Israeli-Palestinian conflict and its implications for the Middle East.
In an interview with NPR, Djerejian discussed the Israeli intelligence failure demonstrated by the Oct. 7 attack, the U.S. foreign policy response, and more.
U.S. presidential administrations started out “saying that settlement activities are illegal, then the phraseology began to soften, saying they’re an obstacle to peace,” Djerejian said. “And yet, the bedrock position of international law is that they are illegal.”
The Joe Biden administration's use of the phrase "terror attack" to describe the killing of a 19-year-old Palestinian by an Israeli settler "was a very deliberate decision on the part of the administration to show its deepening concern over where the policies of this coalition government are headed, not only internally, domestically, in terms of the rule of law but also in terms of the decisions that they're taking and encouraging in terms of the occupied territories,” said Djerejian.