www.aljazeerah.info
John
Kerry: More Pro-Israeli Than Bush?
By Barbara Ferguson
Arab News
NEW YORK, 6 August 2004 —
The US presidential elections are just three months away, and both
President Bush and Democratic presidential nominee Sen. John Kerry
are vying for the Jewish vote.
Kerry has not only announced his
pro-Israel position, but also released a paper for the Jewish
community mid-June, entitled: “John Kerry: Strengthening
Israel’s Security and Bolstering the US-Israel Special
Relationship.”
“John Kerry has been at the
forefront of the fight for Israel’s security during his 19 years
in the US Senate,” it says. “His pro-Israel voting record
is second to none.”
The document attempts to portray his
pro-Israel credentials as being as strong as, if not stronger than,
Bush’s. The document says, for instance, “Israel’s
cause must be America’s cause.”
Kerry expressed support for
Sharon’s plan to withdraw from Gaza, saying that after a final
settlement Palestinians must settle outside Israel, and backed the
Israeli plan to annex some West Bank settlements, as Bush does. The
paper also reaffirmed Kerry’s support for Israel’s Spring
2002 offensive against Hamas, Islamic Jihad, and other Palestinian
groups in Gaza and the West Bank.
The document pledged that a Kerry
administration would work to strengthen Israel’s economy by
helping jump-start the high-tech sector and investing further in
Israeli-made homeland security technologies.
The policy paper is Kerry’s
attempt to alleviate concerns of pro-Israel voters still upset over
Kerry’s comments during the primaries, in which he criticized
the Israeli construction of the wall in the West Bank.
In October 2003, Kerry told members
of the Arab-American Institute, a month after he had announced his
candidacy: “I know how disheartened Palestinians are by the
Israeli government’s decision to build a barrier off the
‘Green Line,’ cutting deeply into Palestinian areas. We do
not need another barrier to peace.” He said the barrier was a
“provocative and counterproductive measure” that was not in
Israel’s interest.
Now Kerry has reversed his position
on the West Bank barrier, which was ruled illegal by the
International Court of Justice. “The security fence is a
legitimate act of self-defense erected in response to the wave of
attacks against Israeli citizens. John Kerry believes the security
fence is not a matter for the International Court of Justice.”
Pro-Israel groups have been quick to
say that Kerry’s apparent capitulation over the wall is a
victory for Israel. The website of the American Israel Public Affairs
Committee, a powerful Washington-based lobbying group, described
Kerry as expressing “support for the security fence that Israel
is erecting along the West Bank.”
A leaked draft of the Democratic
Party platform and recent statements by Kerry note that a Democratic
White House would continue the Bush administration’s
enthusiastic support for Israeli Prime Minister Ariel Sharon.
The Forward, a Jewish paper based in
New York, recently mentioned Kerry’s criticism of Bush’s
record on fighting anti-Semitism and the war on terror. It referred
to points by Kerry that were distributed by his senior adviser on
Middle East and Jewish affairs, Jay Footlik.
Kerry said: “I believe that I
can run a far more effective war on terror and do better by
Israel...because I think the sweetheart relationship between this
administration and Saudi Arabia and the lack of willingness of this
administration to hold Arab countries accountable for their newspaper
articles, for their anti-Semitism, for their conspiracy theories, to
stop the funding that goes to Hezbollah, to Al Aqsa Martyrs Brigade,
to Hamas, has not made the world safer and has not protected
Israel.”
As for Sen. John Edward, the vice
presidential hopeful, Forward says he “scored high marks among
pro-Israel Democrats...Lionel Kaplan, a former AIPAC president, said
he is ‘very happy’ with Kerry’s choice, which he said,
‘reinforces’ the Massachusetts senator’s
‘outstanding record’ on Israel.
AIPAC gave its official seal of
approval, and its spokesman Andrew Schwartz said Edwards always has
been a ‘strong supporter of the US-Israel relationship’ and
that Edwards traveled to Israel in 2001 on a trip organized in part
by an AIPAC-linked group,” the paper said.
