Jewish Leaders Blast Clinton Over Israel Criticism

[IndianaGreen]

Feb 26, 2009 11:59 pm US/Eastern

Jewish Leaders Blast Clinton Over Israel Criticism

Zuckerman, Lawmakers, Local Jews Say Secretary Of State Not The Hillary Clinton They Used To Know
Hillary Pressuring Israel To Speed Up Aid To Gaza

NEW YORK (CBS) ― In a swift about face from her views as New York's senator, Secretary of State Hillary Clinton is now hammering Israel over its treatment of Palestinians in Gaza.

As First Lady, Clinton raised eyebrows when she kissed Suha Arafat.

Since she was then seeking a Senate seat the resulting brouhaha caused her to "re-think" her positions.

"I'm a very strong supporter of Israel," Clinton said back in February 2000.

On Thursday, as Secretary of State she had yet another about face in the form of angry messages demanding Israel speed up aid to Gaza. Jewish leaders are furious.

"I am very surprised, frankly, at this statement from the United States government and from the secretary of state," said Mortimer Zuckerman, publisher of the New York Daily News and member of the NYC Jewish Community Relations Council.

"I liked her a lot more as a senator from New York," Assemblyman Dov Hikind, D-Brooklyn, said. "Now, I wonder as I used to wonder who the real Hillary Clinton is."

Read more: http://wcbstv.com/national/hillary.clinton.israel.2.945238.html

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These are the politically conservative and Republican wing of the American Jewish community. They do not speak for the community as a whole. Mort Zuckerman? He is a moron!

[ORDagnabbit]

1. heaven forbid anyone dare question israel.

[IndianaGreen]

2. Looks like some tough love coming from the Obama Administration

The US is still committed to two-state solution.

:popcorn:

[geek tragedy]

3. If Dov Hiking had any balls, he'd wear his Kahanist buttons in public.

He's disgusting.

[bemildred]

4. Hillary vs. The Israel Lobby

The Nation -- In her 2000 race for the US Senate, Hillary Clinton was loudly denounced by uncritical right-wing supporters of Israel for a 1999 trip to Ramallah, where she kissed Palestinian First Lady Suha Arafat and listened as Arafat denounced Israel (in Arabic). Pictures of "the kiss" were repeatedly slapped across the cover of the New York Post, in TV ads and invoked by the campaigns of Rudy Giuliani and Rick Lazio. The flap almost derailed Clinton's campaign.

Clinton learned her lesson and for nearly a decade afterward offered only boilerplate praise of Israel, which made her a favorite of the right-leaning Israel Lobby.

Now, as Secretary of State, she's forced to confront another reality: the difficulty of forging peace between Israel and the Palestinians. Anything she says that might be perceived as even slightly critical of Israel will land her in hot water with right-wingers back home. Just ask Chas Freeman, who Barack Obama appointed to head the National Intelligence Council despite fierce opposition from war-hungry neoconservatives.

In advance of her trip to the Holy Land next week, Clinton advisers sent word that the US was unhappy with Israel for blocking humanitarian aid to Gaza, which was further devastated by Israel's recent military incursion.

http://news.yahoo.com/s/thenation/20090227/cm_thenation/45412516