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America in the Middle East

McCain, candidacy assured, coming to Israel


By Stan Goodenough
March 10, 2008

Days after securing the nomination to run for president of the United States, US Senator John McCain will be coming to Israel, a country with which every American leader since at least Jimmy Carter has found himself entangled.

According to a report Sunday in the Hebrew-language newspaper Ma'ariv, the purpose of McCain's March 18 visit is to garner support from American Jewry for his White House bid.

The decorated US war veteran, celebrated Vietnam POW and longtime lawmaker plans to meet in Israel with Prime Minister Ehud Olmert, Defense Minister Ehud Barak and Foreign Minister Tzipi Livni.

McCain, who last week received the endorsement of hi-profile pro-Israel evangelical leader John Hagee, has stood staunchly with Israel in the past, rejecting international condemnation of the Jewish state for engaging Hizb'allah in the 2006 Second Lebanon War.

In the same year he denied the authenticity of an article in the leftist Israeli daily Ha'aretz which said he planned to micromanage the Arab-Israeli conflict and that he supported Israel's retreat to the 1967 borders.

In fact, according to The Jewish Press (May 17, 2006), "McCain sounded a pessimistic note on the viability of Israeli-Palestinian negotiations, at least in the short term. 'There can be no comprehensive peace accord between Israel and the Palestinians until the Palestinians recognize Israel, forswear forever the use of violence, recognize their previous agreements, and reform their internal institutions,' he said," adding that 'with the election of Hamas, this process has taken a huge step backward, and it’s simply impossible to push today for a comprehensive accord.'"

On July 17 last year, McCain told a Christian audience in Washington, DC, that Israel "is literally surrounded by enemies bent on its destruction...[and] "is probably under more duress and more difficulties than perhaps they have ever been in the history of that country.

"If we [the United States] fail in Israel," he asked, "where will we succeed?"

As positive as his statements sound, Zionists believe the bottom line is really whether McCain will support and continue efforts to implement President George W. Bush's two-state solution, which aims at stealing historic Jewish lands for the creation of an Arab state.

Meanwhile, according to Fox News, the Democratic candidate, Senator Hilary Clinton, who is still fighting it out with Senator Barak Hussein Obama has indicated no willingness to head to the Middle East at this stage.

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