U.S. President George W. Bush is expected to increase his involvement in the Middle East in his remaining two years in office in a bid to regain his credibility among American voters, according to Israel’s ambassador to the United Nations Dan Gillerman. He said in an interview on Tuesday with Ynet that he believes that Bush “needs an achievement” in the region in order to recoup his party’s losses over the war.I am not reassured by Gillerman's confidence.
Gillerman surmised that Israel’s relationship with the United States is secure, regardless of the results of the upcoming American elections for American legislators.
“Israel has nothing to worry about,” he said. “The alliance between Israel and America is a historic one based on values and cooperation.”
Others are not so sure, predicting that Democrats will cut foreign aid to Israel by next summer.
I wrote about Bush's expected initiative in a post on Soccer Dad: Where Would You Find A Palestinian Technocrat, Anyway? and his attempt to undo the damage of a Hamas government.
If Bush is acting because he "needs an achievement" instead from a sense of real purpose, he is likely to take the easy way--at Israel's expense. The usual formula starts with confidence-building measures for Abbas followed by all-out concessions (also known as diplomatic measures).
The closing prediction that Democrats will cut aid to Israel is a possibility, but then again Arutz Sheva does not quote a source for the prediction. We'll have to just wait and see if the Democrat's indignant reaction to the ads of the Republican Jewish Coalition about the faltering Democratic support of Israel is based on a real feeling for Israel by Democrats, or anger at being outed.
In any case, Gillerman's claim that "Israel has nothing to worry about" is wrong.
If he were right, it would be a first.
Technorati Tag: Israel and President Bush and Democrats and Election.
Israel gets unconditional support from the US no matter who is in power. Republicans support Israel from a religious basis...and Democrats are on the payroll of AIPEC. In fact, Dems take quite a bit more money than Republicans from AIPEC.
ReplyDeleteUnconditional support?
ReplyDeleteHow many times have different US Presidents forced Israel to return land captured during wars instigated by the Arab countries?
Are you actually claiming that the first President Bush did not make aid to Israel during Shamir's term as PM conditional?
Are you saying that weapons to Israel were never conditional?
Israel has never been pressured by the US?
History does not back you up.