David Bedein has a sobering piece for those who want to believe, in spite of all evidence, that John F. Kerry is pro-Israel. Bedein describes Kerry’s newly appointed Middle East advisor, Martin Indyk, as Kerry’s Arafat Yes-Man—and backs it up with numerous disturbing examples.

In early November 2000, Arafat’s Second Intifada terror campaign was getting underway, and Indyk was strongly condemning Israel’s military actions against Arafat’s forces. Indyk remarked that what the Israelis had to do was to get Arafat to act against the perpetrators of the violence, such as Hamas, Tanzim gangs and the Islamic Jihad diplomatically. He did not mention that Arafat’s own Force 17 bodyguard, Preventive Security and other Palestinian Authority forces were also responsible for a considerable portion of the violence. Indyk never wants to hold Arafat responsible when Arafat’s personal forces carry out terrorist activities and kill people.

And in late November 2000, when Israel issued a “white paper” on intercepted intelligence from Arafat’s headquarters that showed documentary evidence that Arafat and his mainstream PLO gangs were indeed facilitating the campaign of terror, Indyk made a special trip to Jerusalem to demand that the Israeli government withdraw its report. Indyk had just reported to the U.S. Congress that the Palestinian groups organizing the terror campaign were NOT under Arafat’s control.

Eight months later, on May 21, 2001, in an address to Ben Gurion University, Indyk stuck to his guns and continued to position Arafat and company as U.S. colleagues in the War on Terror by telling Israel: “What you do is you get Arafat to act against the perpetrators of the violence, Hamas, Tanzim gangs, the Islamic Jihad and you get the Israeli government to hold back the Israeli army while he does so. But that requires a great deal of energy and commitment on Arafat’s part — in very risky circumstances to take on the very angry Palestinian street — and that requires a great deal of restraint and forbearance on the part of the government of Israel.”

Indyk’s admonition to Israel to turn the other cheek when it comes to Arafat has become his mantra. Meanwhile, Israelis and even some American citizens have died at the hands of the PLO.

In geopolitical circles, Indyk’s ideas of dispatching U.S. troops to an area where they could become targets of the PLO or be killed in crossfire between Israeli troops and Arafat’s forces had rendered him obsolete. That is until Senator Kerry appointed Indyk as his man for Middle East policy two days ago. Now they will have to take Indyk’s personal policy to hide the crimes of Fatah and the PLO and coerce American soldiers to protect Arafat’s terrorists seriously.