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Is Bush Really Good For Israel?

The Jewish Journal‘s Janine Zacharia writes,

There is much evidence that Bush has been an outstanding president for Israel. Perhaps nothing benefited Israel more in terms of its long-term security threats, analysts say, than the U.S.-led regime change in Iraq, which Israel believed posed an existential threat to its existence. Bush carried it out despite warnings from many skeptics who argued that a resolution to the Israeli-Palestinian conflict needed to be found first.

[…]

But amid the din of delight about Bush, there are some voices of dissent — including some prominent former U.S. officials in particular, who worry that the American Jewish community is misguided in its praise for the president’s Israel policies. Martin Indyk, the former two-time U.S. ambassador to Israel, contends that Bush’s embrace of Sharon’s unilateral disengagement plan might harm Israel’s overall security long-term and lead to many more Israeli casualties.

2 thoughts on “Is Bush Really Good For Israel?

  1. I gotta say I agree, but for a different and supplemental reason. Bush is viewed by sensible folk with at the least benign distrust and the most active suspicion for his ineptitude at any sort of detail on any policy. His charachter is suspect. So was Clinton’s but he at least let us in on it. If Clinton was slick, Bush is pure ooze, and that shadow lurking behind the facade of integrity makes his support for Israel more a stain than a prize.
    The Bush administration’s rhino in the china shop of the world, as well as its impotence at home, calls its endoresement of ANY Israeli plan, be it engagement, disengagement, dentent or dissolution, into question.
    Israel’s present and future leadership would be wise to seek affirmation of any endorsement of any plan by the Bush administration with future adminstrations, primarily because Bush is viewed by the world (and US citizens, the real backers of Israel) as more problematic and corrupt than Sharon, who is also loathed and rightly viewed as corrupt (albeint effective) by both the world and Israel’s citizens).
    Bush II takes a page from his father in a love for things fuzzy. Instead of math, W prefers policy. “Fuzzy policy.” Everyone sees through it, even and especially the Israelis, and I have to believe that Sharon’s shoppingplans to him is a tactic here, not a strategy.
    This is because we all know that Bush’s days are numbered. Cozying up to him may provide short term comfort for Israel’s sort term plans, but it would be wiser to renew old friendships with leading Democrats for practical, if not moral reasons.

  2. Is the same Democratic Party with such friends of Israel as Jesse Jackson, Al Sharpton et al? I think American Jews have gotten wise to the schtick that Democrats are friends to Jews and Republicans aren’t. The next election is going to be very interesting in regards to where the Jewish vote heads. I rather doubt the Dems can rely on the vast majority of Jews voting for them. I think it will decrease by at least 1/3.

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