Bush-Cheney Campaign Apparently Takes Advantage of Rudy Giuliani on Israel
Listed in: Other Domestic Policy, NJDC News, Press Releases
Washington, DC: This week former New York Mayor Rudolph Giuliani was quoted in the New York Post (August 2, 2004) as questioning Democratic presidential nominee John Kerry's support for Israel. Ignoring scores of Kerry statements over the last six months, and a perfect two-decade Senate voting record in support of Israel, Giuliani claimed that Kerry may not be sufficiently supportive of Israel?s security. He also noted, "The contrast is that if President Bush is your friend, he's your friend -- and he's not going to say one thing to Sharon and another to the Arabs."
"The Bush-Cheney campaign should be ashamed of themselves for preparing Mayor Giuliani so poorly as a Bush surrogate spokesman," said National Jewish Democratic Council Executive Director Ira Forman. "They must have only provided Giuliani with snippets of what John Kerry has said, and they apparently didn't let him know that the Bush Administration has on numerous occasions over the last year severely criticized the Sharon government over the security fence, including actual reductions in Israel's loan guarantees last fall -- a decision made in the White House, by none other than Condoleezza Rice (CNN.com, September 23, 2003). Even on this very day, the headline of today's New York Jewish Week declares, 'Israel Surprised By U.S. Criticism.'
"Moreover, the Bush-Cheney campaign must have encouraged Giuliani to say that the President never changes his positions on issues of importance to Israel. These folks serve the Mayor poorly if they fail to tell him that the President promised four times to Jewish audiences in 2000 to move the embassy to Jerusalem, or if they fail to tell him about the President's flip flops on Arafat or Israel's right to not return to pre-1967 borders.
"In fact, President Bush has done exactly what Mayor Giuliani has said he would never do -- say 'one thing to Sharon and another to the Arabs.' Three months ago President Bush had back-to-back meetings with Prime Minister Sharon and Jordan's King Abdullah, and he told them completely different things regarding Israel?s borders and the Palestinian right of return. Under the headline 'President Bush retracts pledges to Sharon,' the Israeli newspaper Maariv reported on May 6 that 'Despite his warm embrace of Sharon recently, US President George Bush is showing signs of capitulating in the face of pressure from Arab states. In a press conference held following his meeting with Jordan?s King Abdullah today, Bush called on Israel to withdraw from territories it captured in 1967. Bush also failed to repeat an earlier statement [made in front of Prime Minister Sharon] that Palestinian refugees will not be allowed to enter Israeli territory,' the Maariv article reported.
"Rudy Giuliani earned the nation's respect by his courageous response to the September 11 attacks in New York. He deserves better from his Bush-Cheney handlers. By apparently briefing him so poorly on Kerry's and Bush's records on Israel, they are sullying his reputation and turning him into just another cheap shot artist," Forman added.
