--- title: Read John Kerry's Speech on Israeli Settlements, UN Decision description: Secretary of State John Kerry spoke out about the U.N. resolution condemning new Israeli settlements canonical: https://time.com/4619064/john-kerrys-speech-israel-transcript/ author: Sarah Begley article:opinion: false article:content_tier: free article:published_time: 2016-12-28T19:31:28.000Z article:modified_time: 2026-02-23T02:29:27.018Z article:section: Politics og:title: Read John Kerry's Full Speech on Israeli Settlements and a Two-State Solution og:description: "The two-state solution is the only way to achieve a just and lasting peace" og:url: https://time.com/4619064/john-kerrys-speech-israel-transcript/ og:site_name: TIME og:image: https://static.time.com/v3/assets/bltea6093859af6183b/blt78e20ba7be8f0e40/6988b420428a9e5649cd55db/john-kerry.jpeg?branch=production&width=3840&quality=75&auto=webp&crop=16:9 og:image:width: 1200 og:image:height: 675 og:image:alt: John Kerry Delivers Remarks On Middle East Peace At State Department og:type: article twitter:card: summary_large_image twitter:title: Read John Kerry's Full Speech on Israeli Settlements and a Two-State Solution twitter:description: "The two-state solution is the only way to achieve a just and lasting peace" twitter:image: https://static.time.com/v3/assets/bltea6093859af6183b/blt78e20ba7be8f0e40/6988b420428a9e5649cd55db/john-kerry.jpeg?branch=production&width=3840&quality=75&auto=webp&crop=16:9 ---  # Read John Kerry's Full Speech on Israeli Settlements and a Two-State Solution by [Sarah Begley](https://time.com/author/sarah-begley/) ## Sarah Begley Dec 28, 2016 7:31 PM UTC  U.S. Secretary of State John Kerry delivers a speech on Middle East peace at The U.S. Department of State on December 28, 2016 in Washington, DC. K U.S. Secretary of State John Kerry delivers a speech on Middle East peace at The U.S. Department of State on December 28, 2016 in Washington, DC. KZach Gibson—Getty Images by [Sarah Begley](https://time.com/author/sarah-begley/) ## Sarah Begley Dec 28, 2016 7:31 PM UTC Secretary of State [John Kerry](http://www.nytimes.com/2016/12/28/us/politics/john-kerry-israel-palestine-peace.html?smid=tw-nytimes&smtyp=cur) spoke out about the [U.N. resolution](http://time.com/4618683/israel-white-house-un-settlements-resolution/) condemning new Israeli settlements, arguing that they threaten the Israeli-Palestinian peace process and make a two-state solution increasingly challenging. The U.S. abstained from voting on the resolution, and elected not to veto it after it passed [14 to 0](http://www.nytimes.com/2016/12/23/world/middleeast/israel-settlements-un-vote.html). “Regrettably,” Kerry said on Wednesday, “some seem to believe that the U.S. friendship \[with Israel\] means the U.S. must accept any policy, regardless of our own interests, our own positions, our own words, our own principles, even after urging again and again that the policy must change. Friends need to tell each other the hard truths, and friendships require mutual respect.” Read the full text here: --- > “” --- ```json [{"@context":"https://schema.org","@type":"NewsArticle","@id":"https://time.com/4619064/john-kerrys-speech-israel-transcript/","mainEntityOfPage":{"@type":"WebPage","@id":"https://time.com/4619064/john-kerrys-speech-israel-transcript/"},"headline":"Read John Kerry's Full Speech on Israeli Settlements and a Two-State Solution","datePublished":"2016-12-28T19:31:28.000Z","dateModified":"2026-02-23T02:29:27.018Z","description":"\"The two-state solution is the only way to achieve a just and lasting peace\"","url":"https://time.com/4619064/john-kerrys-speech-israel-transcript/","keywords":["diplomacy","onetime"],"thumbnailUrl":"https://static.time.com/v3/assets/bltea6093859af6183b/blt78e20ba7be8f0e40/6988b420428a9e5649cd55db/john-kerry.jpeg?branch=production&width=1200&quality=75&auto=webp&crop=1200:675&height=675","author":[{"@type":"Person","name":"Sarah Begley","jobTitle":null,"url":"https://time.com/author/sarah-begley/"}],"articleSection":"Politics","image":[{"@type":"ImageObject","url":"https://static.time.com/v3/assets/bltea6093859af6183b/blt78e20ba7be8f0e40/6988b420428a9e5649cd55db/john-kerry.jpeg?branch=production&width=1200&quality=75&auto=webp&crop=1200:675&height=675","width":1200,"height":675,"headline":"John Kerry Delivers Remarks On Middle East Peace At State Department","caption":"John Kerry Delivers Remarks On Middle East Peace At State Department","creditText":"Zach Gibson—Getty Images","representativeOfPage":true}],"publisher":{"@type":"Organization","name":"Time","url":"https://time.com/","logo":{"@type":"ImageObject","url":"https://time.com/images/logo.png","width":528,"height":156},"foundingDate":"March 3, 1923","sameAs":["https://www.facebook.com/time","https://www.instagram.com/time/?hl=en","https://twitter.com/time","https://www.pinterest.com/timemagazine"]}},{"@context":"https://schema.org","@type":"BreadcrumbList","itemListElement":[{"@type":"ListItem","position":1,"item":{"@id":"/section/politics/","name":"Politics"}},{"@type":"ListItem","position":2,"item":{"@id":"/tag/diplomacy/","name":"diplomacy"}},{"@type":"ListItem","position":3,"item":{"@id":"https://time.com/4619064/john-kerrys-speech-israel-transcript/","name":"Read John Kerry's Full Speech on Israeli Settlements and a Two-State Solution"}}]}] ```