The controversy over a security fence built to keep suicide bombers out of the Jewish state is threatening to poison the U.S.-Israel relationship. Acting as if the whole point of the process is merely to force Israel back to its June 4, 1967 borders, Secretary of State Colin Powell says the fence is allowing Israel to take disputed land. Bush’s own criticisms of it seem to make the same wrongheaded point.
The latest twist is that the administration may use aid and loan guarantees (given to Israel to offset costs from America’s first war on Iraq, as well as for the damage done to its economy by the Palestinian intifada) to pressure Israel to abandon the project.
Under these circumstances, it would seem more important than ever for friends of Israel to applaud the fact that one of the most important politicians in the country is ready to fight a possible White House tilt toward the Palestinians.
But to listen to the Israel Policy Forum and the rest of the Jewish left, their war against the Christian right should take precedence over the Arab war against Israel.
Some Jewish Democrats pooh-pooh the pro-Israel attitudes of DeLay and other Christian conservatives as a transparent attempt to win Jewish votes. It is true that Jewish Republicans dream of putting an end to the stranglehold on the Jewish vote still held by the Democrats, and there has been some evidence of a slight shift in recent years. But many (though not all)congressional Democrats are just as avid in their support for Israel as DeLay. Anyone who really believes that we are on the verge of Jewish political realignment has probably been standing in the Texas sun for too long.
But if we take the liberals? advice and tell DeLay to take his Zionism and stuff it, we would be making a tremendous mistake. Oddly enough, the Jewish left’s critique of DeLay found an echo this week in the voice of Washington’s leading anti-Israel pundit, Robert Novak.
According to Novak, who has been bashing Israel since the Lyndon Johnson administration, ‘DeLay represents the unconditional support for Israel that once was limited in Congress to Jewish Democrats, who are far less influential than the born-again Christian. He is an important counterweight to Secretary of State Colin Powell, who has convinced Bush to lead in pursuing the road map for the Palestinian state….’
Novak is right. DeLay can play a crucial role in the months to come. If Abbas continues to refuse to disarm the terrorists and if these murderers call off their cease-fire, Israel will need all the support it can muster in Congress to offset those in the State Department and the media who will call for Israel to make further concessions to restart the process.
Jews who fear DeLay’s influence here are wrong to place their support for Abbas and the process ahead of that given Israel’s democratically elected government. At a time when Hamas, Islamic Jihad and the Al Aksa Martyrs Brigade stand ready to start slaughtering Jews again, we should realize that Tom DeLay is not our enemy.
We don’t have to agree with him on other issues, just as we don’t have to share the religious beliefs of our non-Jewish neighbors. But we should celebrate the fact that this Texan with few Jewish constituents is an ardent and faithful friend of Israel. He deserves our thanks, not our contempt.