To Be
Voted As US Senator One Must Show First And Foremost
Sufficient Support To Israel!
2 March 2010By Seema Mehta
In a dispute that commingles foreign policy and a
quest for political advantage, U.S.-Israel relations
have taken an unexpectedly central role in the
California race for Senate.
Rivals in the race for the Republican nomination are
questioning whether former Rep. Tom Campbell is
sufficiently supportive of Israel. They base their
criticisms on his voting record, statements about a
Palestinian homeland and capital, and some of his past
associates.
Their allegations have raised enough concerns for
Campbell that he plans to meet Monday with the
influential American Israel Public Affairs Committee.
He also is reaching out to other Jewish leaders. His
campaign's honorary chairman, former U.S. Secretary of
State George P. Shultz, weighed in to call Campbell's
support for the nation "unwavering."
"He clearly understands the very real threats facing
the Israeli people, all the more urgent now as Iran
rushes toward nuclear arms," Shultz said in a
statement released to The Times. "Tom Campbell's
record of action tells you where he stands, and I
stand with him."
The two other major Republican primary contestants,
former businesswoman Carly Fiorina and Orange County
Assemblyman Chuck DeVore, have launched criticisms of
Campbell. The rhetoric has grown so heated that a
prominent supporter of Campbell's has accused
Fiorina's campaign manager of calling Campbell an
"anti-Semite." The campaign manager denies the
accusation.
The debate over Campbell's Israel credentials, which
has been roiling on Jewish and conservative websites,
is a rare one in American politics, and even less
frequent in Republican primaries compared with
Democratic competitions, said Dan Schnur, director of
the Jesse M. Unruh Institute of Politics at USC and a
former GOP political operative.
"Support for Israel is a pretty universal concept
among Republicans," he said. "Support for Israel is a
pretty broad-based concept in American politics."
But more than foreign policy appeared to be at play.
Evangelical Christians have a strong affinity for the
state of Israel, for political reasons and because
they say support for it is emphasized in the Bible.
For years surveys have shown evangelical support for
Israel far outweighs that of the general population --
and evangelicals are a key bloc among Republican
primary voters.
"The bigger concern for Campbell is less with Jewish
voters than with religious conservatives," Schnur
said.
The issue has sparked at least one dispute among
prominent Republicans. Former California Secretary of
State Bruce McPherson said in an interview that when
he called Fiorina manager Marty Wilson to tell Wilson
he planned to endorse Campbell, Wilson replied,
"Bruce, how can you do that? He's an anti-Semite."
McPherson, who said he would have endorsed Fiorina if
Campbell wasn't in the race, said he was stunned. He
and Campbell have known each other for more than two
decades, he said, and Campbell has never given any
such indication.
"As a matter of fact, I know he's a strong supporter
of the state of Israel," McPherson said.
Wilson denied making the comment. "That's not true,
absolutely not," he said, adding that he does not
believe Campbell is anti-Semitic. "That's crazy."
Wilson said he discussed the endorsement with
McPherson but did not recall discussing Israel.
"It's uncharacteristic of Bruce to sit there and make
that kind of a claim," Wilson said, adding that he had
known McPherson for years.
Criticism of Campbell's voting record centers on
efforts to reduce foreign aid for Israel. While in
Congress, Campbell said, he supported military aid for
Israel but twice sought to reduce economic aid. In the
late 1990s, when foreign aid to other nations was
being cut to help balance the budget, Israel's
allocation was not affected. Campbell said he favored
allowing the military aid to remain unchanged but
supported slightly reducing economic aid.
A second instance occurred when he voted against
giving Israel an additional $30 million in economic
aid, which was to have been taken from funds set aside
for the neediest nations, such as those in Africa.
That money, he said, was on top of a $700-million aid
request that he supported and an earlier $3-billion
appropriation.
Campbell noted that he has traveled to various African
nations to teach and has seen first-hand how much
difference even a small amount of money could
accomplish.
"I remember the mayor of a village in northern Malawi
came out to thank us for a little water pump. It was
probably under $50, and it allowed the water from the
river to be brought to this area," Campbell said. "You
don't forget things like that."
Campbell also drew criticism in the past for saying
that Jerusalem should be the shared capital of both
Israel and a Palestinian state. He said in the
interview that he stands by that view.
His opponents also questioned Campbell's past
associates, notably Sami Al-Arian, a former University
of South Florida professor who pleaded guilty in 2006
to conspiring to help a terrorist organization.
Al-Arian had donated $1,300 to Campbell's 2000
campaign for Senate. Campbell, who was the business
school dean at UC Berkeley and now teaches at Chapman
University, wrote a letter to the University of South
Florida protesting its decision to fire Al-Arian over
comments he made. He also visited Al-Arian's brother
in jail.
Campbell said he did not know about Al-Arian's illegal
activities at the time and said that if he had he
would not have written the letter.
"None of that had come out," he said. Al-Arian was
also photographed with George W. Bush during his first
presidential campaign, Campbell noted.
Jewish leaders expressed confidence that Campbell is
not anti-Semitic, but said he was not regarded as a
"friend of Israel."
"He's a brilliant gentleman and an engaging
personality, and I don't think he's particularly
pro-Israel," said Rabbi Abraham Cooper, the associate
dean of the Simon Wiesenthal Center in Los Angeles,
who has known Campbell since the 1980s. "I think
there's enough there on the record that would send
real alarms that this is someone who maybe doesn't
fully understand, doesn't fully value or fully support
a strong ongoing relationship with the state of
Israel, an alliance with the state of Israel."
Campbell called his opponents' efforts to undermine
his Israel record "unacceptable," and singled out
Wilson's alleged comment to McPherson as "reckless and
irresponsible."
"It's also personally hurtful," he added.
"My ardent desire is to keep the United States free
from political connections with every other country,
to see them independent of all and under the influence
of none."
George Washington (Letter to Patrick Henry, October 9,
1795)
"America well knows that by once enlisting under other
banners than her own, were they even the banners of
foreign independence, she would involve herself beyond
the power of extraction, in all the wars of interest
and intrigue, of individual avarice, envy, ambition,
which assume the colors and usurp the standard of
freedom. The fundamental maxims of her policy would
insensibly change from liberty to force. She would be
no longer the ruler of her own spirit."
John Quincy Adams (1767-1848) Address, July 4, 1821
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