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| The President and Chuck Hegel - Reuters |
Chuck Hagel was a senator from Nebraska from 1996 to 2008.
He is also Viet Nam War veteran who earned several medals during his service
there. I used to admire him before I found out how he thinks. How can you not
admire someone who puts his life on the line and serves his country with valor?
His more or less conservative political views also had some appeal to me as a
right leaning political moderate.
But then he started making comments like "the Jewish lobby
intimidates a lot of people up here". That makes Professors John Mearshiemer and StephanWalt look like members of AIPAC (American Israel Public Affairs Committee). For those who don’t recall,
those two academicians wrote a book about how much the Zionist lobby has too much
influence on US foreign policy.
As Brett Stevens points out in his excellent Wall StreetJournal analysis, Mearsheimer and Walt understand that the Israeli
lobby is not a solely a Jewish lobby. A lot of support for the policies of say
AIPAC comes from Christian Zionists. If AIPAC only represented Jews it would
have no influence at all. We are less than 2% of the population and an
insignificant factor politically. And many do not even subscribe to the
policies of AIPAC. Ask J-Street.
When I started hearing statements like this from Mr. Hagel,
I knew that is antipathy was not reserved for those who support the state of
Israel. It was reserved for us. The Jews. This is how anti-Semitism in Europe
flourished. Nazism didn’t start in one day. It built up over time as we gained
more wealth and influence there. By the time Germany was in enough dire straits
to elect a Hitler, the Jewish people were ripe for becoming the scapegoat of
choice. All that subtle prejudice turned into an eventual Holocaust aided and
abetted by a willing populations in countries like Poland Lithuania and the
Ukraine.
How many times do we have to hear statements like “The Jews
have too much Power” before we realize that the people saying it are anti- Semites?!
Of course Chuck Hagel will I’m sure deny that he is a anti-Semite.
I’ll bet that he can even point to things that will ‘prove’ it. I’m sure that
he will say something like “Some of my best friends are Jewish”! Don’t believe
it. I don’t buy that kind of “friendship” for a minute.
I for one was glad that he retired from the Senate. One less
anti Semite to worry about. A dangerous one
who was a war hero. His political views
with respect to Israel are not at all unlike those of the Reverend Jeremiah
Wright. Recall that Wright too served the military with distinction. He was chosen as part of a medical team
charged with the care of then President Lyndon Johnson. And was thanked for that in a personal letter
by an Admiral on behalf of the President.
The only difference between Hegel and
Wright is the level of subtlety. Wright does not mince words. Hegel tires to come off as a courageous
public servant who refuses to be influenced by powerful lobbies. Like the
Jewish one.
I bring all of this up because Hagel’s name has surfaced as
President Obama’s possible choice to replace Leon Panetta as Secretary of
Defense – probably the second most powerful cabinet position. One one that has a
direct impact on Israel. The most powerful cabinet position is Secretary of
State. The leading contender for that is John Kerry. Not too thrilled about that choice either. I would have preferred Susan Rice. But
Kerry is gold compared to Hagel. I cannot imagine too many people who would be a
worse choice for such a powerful position. Maybe Jeremiah Wright.
I somehow can’t believe that the President doesn’t know
about Mr. Hagel’s antipathy towards Israel. It is surprising that he is being
considered at all… let alone that he is apparently the front runner.
I know the President is not an anti- Semite. I also know
that he supports the State of Israel (despite the insistence by many who say he
doesn’t). He has proven to me that he does. That he has differences with them
over some polices does not make him anti Israel. Nor do I feel that way even though I disagree
with him on some of those policies.
In describing the “ripe” odor of Hagel’s prejudice based on
the word “intimdates” in the quote above - here is a particularly
trenchant excerpt from Steven’s WSJ article:
Ripe, finally, because Mr. Hagel's Jewish lobby remark was well in keeping with the broader pattern of his thinking. "I'm a United States Senator, not an Israeli Senator," Mr. Hagel told retired U.S. diplomat Aaron David Miller in 2006. "I'm a United States Senator. I support Israel. But my first interest is I take an oath of office to the Constitution of the United States. Not to a president. Not a party. Not to Israel. If I go run for Senate in Israel, I'll do that."
Read these staccato utterances again to better appreciate their insipid and insinuating qualities, all combining to cast the usual slur on Jewish-Americans: Dual loyalty. Nobody questions Mr. Hagel's loyalty. He is only making those assertions to question the loyalty of others.
Still, Mr. Hagel managed to say "I support Israel." This is the sort of thing one often hears from people who treat Israel as the Mideast equivalent of a neighborhood drunk who, for his own good, needs to be put in the clink to sober him up.
All this points to why the possible choice of Chuck Hegel for
Secretary of Defense is so troubling. Can you imagine what this guy would do if
Israel’s security depended on some additional US help – whether military or
financial?
He would very likely lobby hard against it to the President –
arguing that Israel should not be America’s concern; that we have already
helped them too much; and have already spent
too much of the American tax-payer’s money on them in. Especially in the financially
strapped economy we are in!
I hope and pray that this does not come to fruition. It
could mean disaster for Israel – and ultimately for world peace.
