United States Secretary of State John Kerry will meet with Israeli Prime Minister Binyamin Netanyahu in a European capital next week with the French peace gambit opposed by Israel and a report by the international “Quartet” peacemakers critical of Israeli policies atop the agenda. Although the Israelis were reportedly miffed at Kerry’s decision to attend a preliminary session in Paris on Monday for what French President Hollande envisions as an international gathering to be held before the end of the year to activate the international community to broker peace between the Israelis and Palestinians, as the plan continues to resonate, it is reasonable to believe it will be to Jerusalem’s advantage to have a senior participant looking out to some degree for Israel’s interests. So far, the American administration has been lukewarm to the French proposal but has not interfered. Netanyahu presumably hopes he can make that happen or at least get the US to try to mitigate elements of the plan the Israelis find unacceptable. An equally troubling development will share the docket when Netanyahu and Kerry meet: the report by the Quartet – the international entity overseeing peacemaking between the Israelis and Palestinians comprised of the UN, United Nations, European Union and Russia – due to be published on Friday and expected to be strongly critical of Israeli policies regarding building on land Israel conquered in the 1967 war that the Palestinians claim as the venue for their state-in-waiting. Here, too, Israel needs US assistance to prevent a feared Security Council presidential statement adopting the report. Such a move would be a significant blow to Israel, virtually codifying a long list of allegations against the Jewish state denied by Israeli officials.