By JPOST.COM STAFF, TOVAH LAZAROFF
US Secretary of State is scheduled to visit Egypt and Qatar in early August, during a quick Middle East trip that does not include a stop in Israel.On August 2, the top US diplomat is slated to be in Cairo and on the following day he is due to travel to Doha before heading to the Far East.Reporters in Washington quizzed US State Department spokesman John Kirby as to why Israel was not on Kerry’s itinerary.“It is just not part of the trip,” Kirby said. “It is an around the world trip. He has been in touch with Prime Minister [Benjamin] Netanyahu many times in the last several weeks to discuss the parameters of it [the Iran deal]. We are in constant consultants with our Israeli counterparts about this.”He added that Kerry has last spoken with Netanyahu on July 16.Kerry is “extraordinarily comfortable with the deal itself and the details in it,” Kirby said. He believe that it will make the region and Israel safer, Kirby added.
Direct hit in Kerem Shalom, multiple people injured
