Safire Column: Simply Wrong
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Safire Column: Simply Wrong
Columnist Ignores Democrats' Strong and Unwavering Support for a Safe and Secure Israel
Washington, DC: A column by William Safire, appearing in Monday's New York Times and titled "Democrats vs. Israel," contained a number of notable inaccuracies and feeble arguments. The National Jewish Democratic Council would like to take this opportunity to set the record straight.
MR. SAFIRE ARGUES: "Most of the leaders of the Democratic Party and its liberal media voices distanced themselves from Israel in the midst of its defense against Arafat's war."
FACT: Our Democratic leaders are among the strongest and most outspoken supporters of Israel, in this time and at all times.
At the April 15th rally supporting Israel in Washington, D.C., the top Democrat in the House, Richard Gephardt - the highest-ranking speaker from either party - received tremendous applause for his remarks. One journalist said that his speech was "among the strongest and most articulate on the issue to date." During his remarks, Mr. Gephardt noted, "The Palestinian Authority and other states in the region must turn unequivocally against terrorism. Chairman Arafat has not yet demonstrated a true commitment to peace. ...We will stand with Israel. We will stand for freedom. And we will stand for a future that brings peace and prosperity to all the people of the Middle East." Representing the GOP were the second-ranking Republican in the House, and Deputy Secretary of Defense Paul Wolfowitz, who was booed following repeated references to "Palestine." At the same rally, the Senate's Assistant Majority Leader, Democratic Senator Harry Reid, noted, "We can't expect Israel to stand idle while its citizens are being slaughtered."
Weeks before Mr. Safire's column, Senate Majority Leader Tom Daschle, appearing on CNN's "Crossfire" on April 1st, was challenged by conservative commentator Bob Novak regarding Senator Daschle's strong support for Israel. The Majority Leader answered, "...We've had six terrorist attacks in six days. What would you do if that was New York, Washington, Chicago and Dallas? I don't think we'd do anything differently. I don't know that the Israeli government has any choice but to be as aggressive as they are. They're responding as we would. I don't think there would be any doubt. Bob Novak himself would be calling for the same kind of retaliatory attacks were we to see that in this country and you know that."
MR. SAFIRE ARGUES: ...That President Bush can be positively contrasted with President Clinton, who - Mr. Safire argues - did not and still does not work in Israel's best interests.
FACT: This assertion of a supposedly "anti-Israel" President Clinton is laughable on its face. A series of Israeli Prime Ministers have referred to President Clinton as one of Israel's best, most committed friends of all time. Then-Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu himself in 1997 called President Clinton "a great champion of peace and an exceptional friend of Israel," and he spoke of President Clinton's "unshakeable commitment to Israel's security and understanding of how security is intertwined with peace." And to this very day, President Clinton continues to earn in Israel some of the highest public polling figures of any political figure in modern times, within Israel's political system or elsewhere. Earlier this year, Israeli pollsters reported that President Clinton's approval rating in Israel remains in the high 70's - higher than those of President Bush.
If Mr. Safire's assertion is to be believed, then one must posit that the American Jewish public, the Israeli public, and Israel's democratically-elected leaders are fools, and do not know what is collectively in their own best interests.
MR. SAFIRE ARGUES: "Democrat Tom Daschle, Senate majority leader, then blocked a bipartisan resolution by Senators Mitch McConnell and Dianne Feinstein to designate the P.L.O. as a terrorist group."
FACT: As Senator Feinstein herself noted on the floor of the U.S. Senate yesterday, "...[I]n a column in this morning's New York Times, Mr. William Safire, under the title 'Democrats vs. Israel,' made a statement about this resolution, saying it has been blocked by Majority Leader Tom Daschle. This is not true. Senator McConnell and I presented the bill on Thursday [April 18th]. We indicated we were not pushing for its passage at the present time, that we wanted time to go out and achieve a number of cosponsors. That was the reason for any delay. So I would like the record to clearly reflect that."
MR. SAFIRE ARGUES: "Democrat Joe Biden then refused to allow Bibi Netanyahu to appear before [the] Senate Foreign Relations [Committee]."
FACT: It is standard practice - regardless of which party controls the Senate - for such dignitaries to meet with Senators in committee-sponsored receptions, as Senator Biden offered, and not before a formal committee hearing, as Mr. Netanyahu had requested. Additionally, the Bush Administration preferred that Mr. Netanyahu not appear in a Senate committee hearing, given that the U.S. Secretary of State was in the Middle East at the time.
MR. SAFIRE ARGUES: ...That conservative columnists "all were well ahead of late-arriving Lieberman and his tiny band of principled Democrats."
FACT: Mr. Safire himself, earlier in the same piece, acknowledges the strongly pro-Israel efforts of a virtual "who's-who" of the leaders of the Democratic Party - Senator John Kerry, House Minority Leader Richard Gephardt, Senator Charles Schumer, and Senator Joe Lieberman, to name but a few. Mr. Safire later targets Senator Hillary Rodham Clinton, whom he cannot even refer to by name - calling her instead New York's "junior senator." Mr. Safire seems to somehow "accuse" Senator Clinton of signing the right pro-Israel congressional letters and making the right statements. In Mr. Safire's world, when Republican leaders make the right statements and sign the right letters, they are true leaders; when Democrats do it, they must be doing so grudgingly. Such a double standard is the hallmark of cheap-shot journalism.
MR. SAFIRE ARGUES: "Eight out of ten American voters who are Jewish have been voting for candidates of a Democratic Party that now only tepidly supports the government overwhelmingly chosen by Israelis."
FACT: Mr. Safire is finally correct on one point; the vast majority of American Jews vote Democratic. But his use of the word "tepid" is misplaced. American Jews have given their overwhelming support to the Democratic Party - and will continue to do so - because of the Democratic Party's strong support for the separation of church and state, reproductive rights, environmental safeguards, and - indeed - for the Democratic Party's strong and unwavering support for a safe and secure Israel, regardless of which party governs the State of Israel.
The full text of Mr. Safire's column may be viewed online here.
