Posted January 14 2008 by Marc Lerman
Israel should NOT be the only issue
I often hear that people vote for a particular candidate over another one is their stance towards Israel. “Oh, he’s great for Israel, he’s got my vote” or “They are terrible towards Israel - no way!” When did the Jewish vote start to focus on a single issue? And has a President’s feelings towards Israel at any point in the last 60 years really done anything to change the status of Israel? I offer one answer - a little, but not enough.
In May 1948, Harry Truman took the risky step of having the US State Department officially recognize Israel as a country. Many nations around the world soon followed, but Truman was first. I believe that while Truman’s move was powerful in the eyes of other nations around the world, and it’s possible he won reelection in 1948 on the Jewish vote, the love from the United States ended there. Truman, and later Eisenhower, refused to sell weapons or planes to the struggling country, and Israel’s main ally at that point was France. Then, as now, the main reason for anything in the Middle East was for oil. If the United States supported Israel too much or too openly, then the oil producing Arab nations would cut off the flow. The secondary reason for anything at that time was to counter the Soviet Union. While Israel did purchase some plans and arms from the USSR in the very early 50’s, the USSR soon supported Egypt and Syria. The US did all it could to prevent that friendship, and as soon as they started to sell weapons to Israel during the JFK administration, they sold the same weapons to Egypt and Syria. They, in essence, funded both sides of the war.
During the Johnson administration, support changed for Israel. Johnson was one of the more liberal Presidents of the 20th century, and he was open to all types of people. LBJ was very much in favor of a Jewish state personally, but knew that he could not openly support Israel. The Soviets were still gunning for Arab support and appeared to be winning in the battle. The fear that a country might fall into the sphere of Soviet influence governed all of American foreign policy. The only other thing more important than communism was oil, and since both of those were in play in the Middle East, the situation was very delicate. Even though the US was selling arms and planes to Israel, and it had stopped selling them to Egypt and Syria, they continued sales to Saudi Arabia and Lebanon.
It’s entirely possible that Richard Nixon was crazy. Not ha-ha crazy, but actually clinically crazy. That being said, at that point his administration was probably the most friendly towards Israel while Nixon himself hated Jews the most. His secret recordings from the Oval Office later revealed a huge distrust of Jews, and a fear that Jews held too much power around the world. During the Yom Kippur War, after the Israelis had pushed the Egyptians back to the Suez Canal and had them completely trapped, the US exerted a ton of pressure on the Israelis to let the Egyptians escape rather than be taken prisoner. This eventually helped lead to improved diplomatic relations between the US and Egypt, which in turn led to the Israeli-Egyptian peace accords in 1979. However, the American’s motives were less than pure. They were based on, of course, oil and the threat of communism. But Nixon’s financial and economic support helped build up the Israeli Defense Forces to become one of the most sophisticated armies in the world.
As good as Nixon was for Israel, Jimmy Carter was not. Carter was and continues to be the most prolific opponent to the Israeli occupation of the West Bank. He helped negotiate the peace with Egypt and hoped that it would directly lead to a Palestinian state along the 1948 borders. Carter’s most recent book was very critical of the Israelis and compared the occupation of the West Bank to the oppression of blacks in South Africa during Apartheid. However, during Carter’s entire Presidency, the American policy towards Israel hardly changed at all. As much as Carter did not and does not like Israel, the policies of his government did not reflect those attitudes.
Ronald Reagan loved Israel. He hated terrorism and loved a strong response to any terrorist attack, which Israel was famous for. Reagan guaranteed billions in loans to Israel, which helped stabilize the economy during a rough patch. While Reagan was voted the most pro-Israeli President ever by some pro-Israel groups, the Reagan administration was responsible for damaging Israeli-American relations. First, American Jew Jonathan Pollard was arrested and sentenced to life in prison without parole for spying for Israel. Reagan refused to consider clemency or a pardon, an issue that has divided American Jews for the past 21 years. In addition, the Reagan administration started negotiations with the PLO in late 1987, clearing the way for Yasser Arafat to make his way to the West Bank and leading for the first Intifada in 1987.
During the administration of the first President Bush and the Gulf War, Iraq rained Scud missiles on Tel Aviv. Miraculously, nobody was killed as a direct result of the missiles, but Israel was pressured by the Bush administration not to return fire. During Bush’s 4 years in the White House, there were a number of remarks by senior officials and Cabinet members against Israel. James Baker, the Secretary of State, criticized Israeli occupation of the West Bank and control over the old city of Jerusalem in a speech to AIPAC. However George Bush felt towards Israel, the policies were all geared towards appeasing the Arabs and limiting Israeli power in the region.
While President Clinton was close friends with Yitzchak Rabin, who was assassinated in November 1995, little happened in a pro-Israel sense. Clinton was instrumental in arranging talks between Israel and the PLO, and helped bring Arafat into the West Bank in an official position. However, terrorist attacks grew during this time, and after every attack Israel was pressured not to retaliate. Clinton almost succeeded in helping establish a Palestinian state in late 2000, but instead the second Intifada broke out, and thousands of innocents on both sides were injured or killed over the next 3 years.
The second George Bush has been back and forth on the Israeli front. On one hand, his administration has in essence given the green light to Israel to do whatever they feel is needed to protect themselves. Israel moved out of the Gaza Strip in this time period, and terror attacks have seemed to lessen. However, no peace negotiations have taken place in over 7 years, and as much as Bush loves Israel, that’s how much the rest of the world has turned against them. By being as friendly as he is towards Israel, Bush has damaged Israel in the eyes of the rest of the world.
In conclusion, I feel that the personal feelings of one candidate or another towards Israel has very little to do with actual American policy towards Israel. There is no pattern of Democrats or Republicans being more friendly towards Israel or not. My feeling is that there are a lot more issues that should be just as important while choosing who to vote for. If all Hillary Clinton has going for her is that she likes Israel, but I disagree with her on every other issue, I am not going to vote for her. Same with Rudy, Obama, Romney, or any other candidate. So please, take the time to look at all of a candidates’ positions, and if you still feel that Israel is the most important I can respect that. But if you blindly follow whoever you think is the best to Israel without looking at all the issues or the whole field, then I don’t know what to say to you.
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