Ed Koch, the former Democratic mayor of New York City, recently remarked that “in President George W. Bush, Israel has a friend and supporter who has exhibited more concern for the Jewish state than any other president.”
Those words have resonated throughout the American Jewish community, as leaders from both sides of the political spectrum and groups as varied as the American Jewish Congress, World Jewish Congress, American Israel Public Affairs Committee and the Reform Jewish movement have expressed their gratitude to President Bush, not only for his unequivocal support of Israel, but for his stand against global anti-Semitism and terror.
Early in his administration, the president confronted anti-Semitism head-on. He opposed attempts to change the objectives of the United Nations’ World Conference Against Racism and then, despite fierce criticism from the world community, refusing to send high-level delegates to the conference once it was clear the agenda would be anti-Semitic. President Bush also personally condemned the vicious anti-Semitic statements made by Malaysian Prime Minister Mahathir Mohammad.
When it comes to Israel, President Bush’s record is unmatched. It is more than symbolic that while Yasir Arafat was the most frequent foreign leader to visit the White House during the Clinton administration, he has never met with President Bush, anywhere, at any time.
President Bush’s historic Rose Garden speech of June 24, 2002 changed the paradigm of how the United States deals with Israeli-Palestinian conflict. In that speech, the president laid out his blueprint for peace in the Middle East, a bold plan that called for new Palestinian leadership that rejected terrorism in any form. The president has refused to deviate from the principles by calling for a Palestinian state only “based upon democratic principles.”
President Bush has also given Israel the support it needs in the international arena. Under this administration, the United States was one of only four countries in the United Nations to vote against a resolution condemning Israel’s anti-terrorist security barrier. The Bush administration also opposed the International Court’s hearings on the legality of Israel’s anti-terrorist fence.
But President Bush’s record has been about much more than his staunch support of the Jewish state. It also has been about making America stronger and safer.
Terrorism might have been Israel’s greatest threat, but on 9/11 it became ours as well. Since then, the president has shown the fortitude and leadership that are needed to win the War on Terror. George Bush has taken the fight to those who wish to destroy us, utilizing everything at our disposal to eradicate terrorist groups and those dictators and theocrats regimes who harbor and support them.
Since 9/11, the United States has dismantled a terrorist regime in Afghanistan and eradicated most of a once-powerful Al Qaeda organization, whose leader, Osama Bin Laden, is on the run. This administration also led an international coalition to rid the world of one of its biggest threats to peace, Saddam Hussein. With the end of Saddam’s regime came the end of the threat of chemical weapons, scud missiles and payments to Palestinian suicide bombers.
The president’s war against the despots in Iraq and Afghanistan has had many encouraging consequences, as it convinced Libya and Iran, both enemies of the State of Israel, to come clean about their advanced programs for nuclear and chemical weapons.
Yet, even as we are taking the fight to the terrorists, the president has made protecting the homeland a priority. He proposed, and Congress passed, the Department of Homeland Security, which unified more than 20 agencies and offices to enhance the government’s ability to protect our infrastructure, guard our borders and patrol our skies.