Gingrich Loses Credibility Further by Politicizing Israel during Interview

David Streeter — July 29, 2011 – 3:32 pm | Election 2012 | GOP Presidential Candidates 2012 | Israel | Republicans Comments (0) Add a comment

Earlier this week The Jewish Week’s “political insider” Douglas Bloomfield wrote:

Republicans are trying to turn support for Israel into a wedge issue for next year’s elections even though polls show it only ranks eight on the priority lists of most Jewish voters.

Yesterday, Republican presidential candidate Newt Gingrich lent more truth to this during his interview with Haaretz’s Natasha Mozgovaya. During the interview Gingrich wrongfully attacked President Barack Obama and demonstrated that he has lost his credibility even further on the Middle East. But the most telling aspect of the interview is that Mozgovaya corrected Gingrich on his central point regarding Israel’s borders because his assertion was devoid of historical context or truth.

Ironically and hypocritically, Gingrich advocated for bipartisan support for Israel before he began his baseless and hyperbolic attacks on Obama:

I think it would be much better for Israel if there was a broad consensus that the survival of Israel is integral to the survival of the U.S., and if Israel was a nonpartisan issue. With this president, it’s not possible. He clearly has no understanding of the threat, no willingness to tell the truth about it, and has a fantasy vision of how the world works.

Gingrich said regarding Israel’s borders:

His proposal [concerning] the 1967 borders was suicidal. An Israel that accepts 1967 borders is an Israel that accepts the demise of the country.

Mozgovaya corrected Gingrich, noting that Obama said nothing new about Israel’s borders:

But he stressed ‘1967 with mutually agreed swaps.’ Former Prime Minister Ehud Olmert basically already proposed the same concept.

Additionally, Gingrich avoided answering questions on whether he supported a negotiated two state solution and even disparaged the idea of negotiations between Israel and the Palestinians. Both of these positions demonstrate just how out of step he is with the Israeli government, let alone the vast majority of American Jews.

The Israeli government, the Jerusalem-based Jewish People Policy Institute, and NJDC have all warned that turning Israel into a partisan wedge issue hurts Israel’s security in the long term. Yet, Gingrich and other GOP candidates continue to engage in these harmful activities that risk undoing decades of truly bipartisan support for Israel—all for short term political gain.

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