Saturday, December 15, 2012

Not surprised Obama may nominate this anti ISRAEL guy as sec defense


Appointment of Hagel Would Be A “Slap in the Face” for Pro-Israel Americans

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Hagel’s Weak Record Cited by Both Parties

Washington, D.C. (December 14, 2012) –The Republican Jewish Coalition today announced its opposition to the potential appointment of former Senator Chuck Hagel (R-NE) as Secretary of Defense, citing a long list of actions Hagel has taken that raise alarms about his failure to support Israel.
  • August 2006: Hagel was one of only 12 Senators who refused to write the EU asking them to declare Hezbollah a terrorist organization.
  • October 2000: Hagel was one of only 4 Senators who refused to sign a Senate letter in support of Israel.
  • November 2001: Hagel was one of only 11 Senators who refused to sign a letter urging President Bush to continue his policy of not meeting with the Yasir Arafat until the Palestinian leader took steps to end the violence against Israel.
  • December 2005: Hagel was one of only 27 Senators who refused to sign a letter to President Bush to pressure the Palestinian Authority to ban terrorist groups from participating in Palestinian legislative elections.
  • June 2004: Hagel refused to sign a letter urging President Bush to highlight Iran’s nuclear program at the G-8 summit.
  • August 2006: Anti-Israel group CAIR wrote in praise of Hagel, “Potential presidential candidates for 2008, like Hillary Clinton, John McCain, Joe Biden and Newt Gingrich, were falling all over themselves to express their support for Israel. The only exception to that rule was Senator Chuck Hagel…”
  • March 2009: Hagel was one of 10 former and current foreign policy officials who signed a letter urging Pres. Obama to open direct talks with Hamas leaders.
  • On Iran: Hagel, writing in a May 2006 article for The Financial Times, explicitly ruled out the military option against Iran that Pres. Obama claims to have ‘kept on the table.’
RJC Executive Director Matt Brooks said, “Chuck Hagel’s statements and actions regarding Israel have raised serious concerns for many Americans who care about Israel. The Jewish community and every American who supports a strong U.S.-Israel relationship have cause for alarm if the President taps Hagel for such an important post.  The appointment of Chuck Hagel would be a slap in the face for every American who is concerned about the safety of Israel.”

Posted: 14 Dec 2012 10:27 AM PST
(Paul Mirengoff)
Chuck Hagel is now thought to be the front-runner for Secretary of Defense. He would be an extremely poor choice. For one thing, he is overly averse to sending U.S. forces into harm’s way. Skepticism about doing so is healthy, of course. But Hagel’s overreaction to the Iraq war seems to have made him so reluctant to support the deployment of troops to battle that his job performance might well be affected. We need a Secretary of Defense made wise by experience, not scarred by it.
Moreover, Hagel is terrible on issues relating to Israel. As Eli Lake reports:
Hagel’s real opposition will likely come from the pro-Israel lobby in Washington. While the American Israel Public Affairs Committee (AIPAC) never takes formal positions on nominees, if the group is asked by senators for its view on Hagel, it’s unlikely AIPAC will have a kind word. A senior pro-Israel advocate in Washington told The Daily Beast on Thursday, “The pro-Israel community will view the nomination of Senator Chuck Hagel in an extremely negative light. His record is unique in its animus towards Israel.”
This is no overstatement. Consider that, as a Senator, Hagel voted against designating the Iranian Revolutionary Guard Corps as a terrorist organization, refused to call on the E.U. to designate Hezbollah a terrorist group, and consistently voted against sanctions on Iran for their illicit pursuit of nuclear weapons capability. Thus, as Josh Block, head of the Israel Project, says, “It is a matter of fact that [Hegal's] record on these issues puts him well outside the mainstream Democratic and Republican consensus.”
Hagel’s anti-Israel animus has been too much even for Democrats who defend Obama’s Israel record to stomach. Ira Forman, who was in charge of the Obama reelection campaign’s outreach to Jewish voters, said in 2009, after Hagel was named co-chairman of the President’s Foreign Intelligence Advisory Board, that he would have opposed Hagel’s nomination for a more substantive position.
If Obama nominates Hagel for the quintessentially substantive job of Secretary of Defense, will that make Forman a useful idiot?
Lake also notes that, in addition to being a reliable “no” vote on sanctions against Iran, Hagel also serves on the board of directors of Deutsche Bank, which is reportedly being probed by U.S. authorities for possible violations of the very kinds of sanctions Hagel opposed when he was in Congress.
If Obama nominates Hagel, will that make Jews who worry about Iran but voted for Obama useful idiots?
Hagel isn’t just soft on Iran and Hezbollah; he’s also soft on Hamas. In 2009, he signed onto a letter from the U.S. Middle East Project that urged Obama to begin talks with Hamas, a U.S. designated terrorist group, in an effort to revive the peace process.
It cannot plausibly be argued that Hagel’s pro-Hamas stance is based solely on a pragmatic recognition that Hamas has supplanted the PA as the “main game in town” when it comes to the “peace process.” Like his positions on Iran and Hezbollah, Hagel’s stance on Hamas stems from animus towards Israel. Indeed, the Atlantic Council, chaired by Hagel, has today published a column called “Israel’s Apartheid Policy.”
During the presidential campaign, Team Obama fended off accurate charges that the president has tilted away from Israel by arguing, accurately, that military cooperation between the U.S. and Israel has, if anything, been strengthened since Obama took office. But under a Hagel Defense Department, it is doubtful that such strong, seamless cooperation would continue. It is also doubtful that Israel could count on the active assistance of the U.S. in a military crisis.
Peter Beinart claims that Obama

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