Israeli party leader lambastes Kerry

Chairwoman of the Israeli Bayit Yehudi faction in the parliament Ayelet Shaked has lambasted US Secretary of State John Kerry for his demand for release of Palestinian captives.

'You are putting lives at risk by gambling on the 'peace' process,' Shaked wrote in a letter to him on Thursday.

Shaked began the letter explaining that, due to the gravity of the situation, she “simply cannot be bound by the restraints of politically correct wording” and must be straightforward. She said by forcing Israel to release the captives, "you are not only being extremely hypocritical, but are actually dabbling in experimentation and gambling, by putting me and my children’s lives at risk".

The letter was also sent to US Ambassador Dan Shapiro and Israeli Ambassador Michael Oren.

According to Shaked, US pressure on Israel to release the captives, as it did this week, “is made all the more absurd, cynical and vicious by the fact that [the US] refuses to this day to release [Israeli agent] Jonathan Pollard from jail, despite the unprecedented [prison sentence] he has served thus far.”

The Bayit Yehudi MK added that Israelis would pay the price of releasing the captives, not Kerry. “How will you carry the burden of the terrible price toward which you are leading us?” she wrote.

“You forced us into peace talks during a period of time that the entire Middle East is in chaos, without realizing that by doing so, you have foolishly put us in an impossible situation in which we cannot and will not make any concessions.”