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hmmm
7/19/2002 (1:50) |
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Is the U.S. Right, Right for Israel?
By Dwight Owen Schweitzer July 17, 2002
Over the past several years, an interesting political shift has taken place which has dramatic implications for the future of Israel's relations with the United States. Since the Truman administration threw its considerable support behind Israel's statehood at the time of its announcement in 1948, the bedrock of U. S. Congressional support for Israel, though bi-partisan throughout, has been heavily weighted in favor of the Liberal left generally, and the Democratic party specifically.
Since the failure of the peace process and the ensuing violence between Israelis and Palestinians, the traditionally conservative right wing of the Republican Party has taken an increasingly vocal, pro-Israel stance, both in the Congress and from the pulpits of the religious right. In the meantime, the traditionally rock solid support Israel has heretofore received from the Democratic Party appears to be splintering and is no longer seen as either monolithic or uncritical.
The quintessential expression of that shift came from what can only be described as a remarkable interview recently on MSNBC's 'Hardball with Chris Mathews' show, where Mr. Matthews interviewed Dick Armey, the Republican leader in the House. Mr. Armey's unequivocal endorsement of the State of Israel and its policies in dealing with the Palestinians and its historical rights to the land go farther than any other similar pronouncements by an American political leader since the founding of the State of Israel.
Armey is reported to have said: 'The land of Israel belonged to the Jewish people, and if the Palestinians could not live side-by-side with the Jewish people, they need to leave.' While this was not a policy statement, it is reflective of the increasingly unequivocal pro-Israel pronouncements coming from the so called 'far right' which Mr. Armey has been identified with since his days in Congress during the Reagan Administration.
Given the fact that much of the right wing's increasing support of Israel had its origins in the Evangelical movement, itself a power base of the Republican Party, suggests that this support is based more on a religious doctrine than a political one. In times of crises, no nation would be wise to look its gift horses too closely in the mouth, and certainly Israel should be no exception at this pivotal time in her history. That being said, it is wise to remember that the ties that bound the liberal left to Israel were based more on shared values than the vagaries of religious confluence.
The State of Israel needs all the allies she can muster for the difficult days ahead, but this time of crises shall someday pass. The shared values of three generations, which are, and always have been essentially liberal values, ought not to be ignored for the short term expediency of finding common cause with a more vocal or even unequivocal base of support today that might not pass the test of time.
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