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Putting Politics Above Israel
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More in Forward ForumPolicies that endure require bipartisan political support. And because Israel’s American supporters historically have placed its security ahead of partisan politics, Israel has enjoyed strong bipartisan backing in the United States.
During the 10 years in which I served as a member of the United States Congress, I often introduced bills that were described by analysts as “pro-Israel” legislation. I did so because they were good for America as well as for Israel.
I regularly asked senior Republican colleagues, such as Jack Kemp and Vin Weber, to work with me and other Democrats as prominent co-sponsors of those bills. Together, we obtained support for higher levels of aid to Israel, opposed risky arms sales to Israel’s enemies and encouraged a range of cooperative American-Israeli efforts that benefited both countries. Often, we would speak at the same events, explaining the importance of bipartisan support for Israel. I recall one such occasion when then-congressman John McCain and I traveled to Las Vegas to deliver that message.
Unfortunately, the Republican Jewish Coalition recently has placed divisive partisanship above Israel’s long-term interests by engaging in reckless assaults against two proven friends of Israel — Senators Barack Obama and Joe Biden. Obama believes Israel’s security is “sacrosanct,” and he has stressed that America’s commitment to it is “non-negotiable.” Biden, for his part, has a long record of leadership in supporting Israel on Capitol Hill. Yet because Obama and Biden are the Democratic nominees for president and vice president of the United States, the RJC has engaged in a relentless series of unfair attacks against them.
Traditionally, analysts who care about Israel evaluate the record of public officials and provide a fair assessment, based on facts. Instead, the RJC has distorted the records of the Democratic nominees.
The RJC has engaged in what it claims is an honest telephone poll, but which others have more accurately described as a “push poll.” The RJC has refused to release a list of the questions it is asking in its poll, but several recipients of the phone calls have stepped forward to reveal its contents. The questions appear aimed at fueling false notions that Hamas supports Obama and that Obama’s Middle East advisers are anti-Israel, among other smears that have been thrown at the Democratic nominee.
On September 29, the RJC released an ad alleging that Obama’s advisers are “pro-Palestinian, anti-Israel, and even hostile to America.” In fact, Senator Obama’s actual Middle East advisers are a respected group of pro-Israel Middle East experts.
Other ads by the RJC attacking Obama have used similar scare tactics. They have prominently featured photos of Patrick Buchanan, Mahmoud Ahmadinejad and even the late Ayatollah Khomeini.
On August 26, the RJC issued a press release attacking Senator Biden’s record on Israel, calling it “inconsistent.” Such an assertion would be laughable for anyone familiar with the senator’s record. In 1987, Senator Biden and I introduced legislation, commonly known then as “Biden-Levine,” which would have made it substantially easier for Congress to block weapons sales deemed harmful to Israel. I worked closely with him during my time in Congress and learned first-hand how deeply and consistently committed he is to Israel’s security and survival.
I believe that John McCain is committed to Israel’s security. I also suspect Senator McCain knows that Obama and Biden are, too. If McCain wishes to reclaim any credibility for “straight talk,” he should repudiate the RJC’s dishonest and dishonorable tactics. These ads and claims not only distort the records and views of proven friends of Israel, they are also inconsistent with the Jewish ethic of telling the truth.
Israel’s supporters still have too many important battles to fight to allow ourselves to be diverted by partisan mendacity. When Israel faces the type of serious challenges presented by a resurgent Iran, Hamas controlling Gaza and Hezbollah gaining strength, those of us who care deeply about Israel’s security should be working together to find real solutions to these challenges. Israel continues to need bipartisan support on a range of issues, including maintaining appropriate levels of American financial support for Israel, working to deepen American-Israeli defense cooperation and developing collaborative approaches to find real alternatives to our dependence on fossil fuels.
We should be thanking our friends, not vilifying them — and deepening the bipartisan heritage of leaders like Jacob Javits and Abe Ribicoff, who would have repudiated the disreputable tactics employed in this election cycle by the RJC.
Mel Levine serves as a Middle East policy adviser to Democratic presidential candidate Senator Barack Obama. He is a former member of Congress from California and a former board member of the American Israel Public Affairs Committee.
As the race for the White House continues, the Forward presents the views of policy makers, opinion-shapers and even a politician or two in a non-partisan forum offering a balanced range of opinion. The views expressed are not endorsed by the Forward, which does not support or oppose candidates for public office. This series is intended to help our readers educate themselves on the issues surrounding the quadrennial November Dilemma.
Comments
I think Israel should be a political issue, and my interpretation of todays politics is whether we should continue to support a tribal state that generates hatred, or work towards absorbing the Jewish population of Israel in N America and Europe, and handing it back to the Palestinians. The existence of Israel is the primary irritant between the west and the east, and it is our duty as progressives to acknowledge the painful truth and vote for progressives who will elevate world peace. Obama is far more likely to see the benefits of a world without the failed Israeli experiment than the cowboy McCain
I agree completely with Mr. Levinson. Obama is the second coming of Jimmy Carter, the worst president we have had, except Obama has far more dubious and corrupt associations. Any Jew that votes for the Obama bin Biden ticket is a fool.
As an Israeli I follow the American elections with a growing sense of astonishment. Why would any Jewish person vote for him. His close associates for many years until he recently dumped them are public anti-semites and Israel haters. Would any black vote for someone who associates with members of the KKK and segregationists? It is also clear that he will sell Israel down the river the fist chance that he gets.
Ofer, the reason that most Jews will vote for Obama is the same that most Israelis will vote for a candidate who will hand Judea, Samaria, and E Jerusalem to those who will launch Qassams from the Temple Mount. The Kadima party is still in power 2 years after its defeat by Hezbollah, and 3 years after lying to the Gush Katif refugees and leaving them homeless. Even Obama as president (I am not voting for him) would be unlikely to tolerate a sustained rocket bombardment of Brownsville Texas, but Israel accepts the bombardment of Sderot as a fact of life
Why was no one from the Obama campaign willing to come to the anti-Ahmadinajad rally?
No one from the Obama campaign came to the anti-Iranian rally because we are sick and tired of demonizing Ahmandinejad, who is a man of peace. I am sick and tired of these articles which elevate the interests of a particular nation over that of the entire world. Of the candidates who has the altruism to put the earths interests first, before that of the US or Israel, I trust Obama over mcCain
Stella may be "sick and tired of demonizing Ahmadinejad", but she surely isn't sick and tired of demonizing Israel. Her program for Israel is the evacuation of her Jewish population; however, after learning from Ahmadinejad's peace-loving speech in the UN how evil these Zionists are - it's rather unlikely that anyone would want to absorb such a dangerous public in their country. So I guess we are all going to stay in our tribal land.
Jesse Jackson, at World Policy Forum in France made a speech, in which he explained that under an Obama administration:
`The most important change would occur in the Middle East, where "decades of putting Israel's interests first" would end.
Jackson believes that, although "Zionists who have controlled American policy for decades" remain strong, they'll lose a great deal of their clout when Barak Obama enters the White House.'
Obama's did not deny the substance of Jackson's claims. Instead, in response Obama's office said:
"Jesse Jackson is not an advisor to the Obama campaign and is therefore in no position to interpret or share Obama's view on Israel and foreign policy".
ANY JEW - THAT IS ANY JEW WHO CARES AT ALL ABOUT ISRAEL'S SURVIVAL - THAT IS ANY "ZIONIST" - WHO PLANS TO VOTE FOR BARAK HUSSEIN OBAMA, SHOULD HAVE HIS HEAD EXAMINED.
I have not followed the RJC's accusations, but I have verified personally that there are serious questions about Obama's associations. The church to which he belonged for twenty years, until it became such an embarrassment that he finally threw it under the bus this year, published the following material. All except for the divestment piece were hosted at tucc.org, the Trinity United Church of Christ's official Web site--in other words, they are not "smears" from "someone's blog."
(1) A guest opinion piece that blood libeled Israel by accusing it of developing an "ethnic bomb" with which to kill Black people and Arabs.
(2) A guest opinion piece from a Hamas terrorist named Marzook.
(3) "State" of Israel, as in "so-called state of Israel." This was signed by Jeremiah Wright himself.
The piece that advocated divestment from Israel also was signed by Jeremiah Wright, and it appeared in the Trumpet magazine.
In addition, Obama posed with and endorsed Al Sharpton and his National Action Network, both of which are infamous for their role in the Freddy's Fashion Mart incident in 1995. Empowerment and enablement of racists and anti-Semites--and Sharpton & Co. used both racial and anti-Semitic epithets at Freddy's--is not exactly a good way to earn my trust or respect.