New York, Thursday, May 28, 2004  Jewish
Congresswoman says Bush's Policies a Danger to
Jews by Ami Eden THE simmering debate over the
role of Jewish neoconservatives in drawing America
into war in Iraq erupted with new fury this week.
One of America's most respected ex-generals took to
the airwaves to charge on CBS News' "60 Minutes"
that the war had been fought for Israel's benefit,
just days after a similar charge was leveled on the
floor of the U.S. Senate.  The
retired general, Anthony Zinni, left, a past
chief of the U.S. Central Command and President
Bush's former Middle East special envoy, told "60
Minutes" on Sunday that the neoconservatives' role
in pushing the war for Israel's benefit was "the
worst-kept secret in Washington." Three days
earlier, Senator Ernest "Fritz" Hollings, a
South Carolina Democrat, rose on the Senate floor
to defend
a newspaper essay he had written earlier in the
month making the same charge. Both men complained
that they had been unfairly labeled antisemitic for
speaking out.
Their comments come just weeks after the United
Nations' special envoy to Iraq, Lakhdar
Brahimi, called Israel a "poison in the region"
and said that American support for Israeli policies
was making his job more difficult. In the face of these
mounting criticisms, a leading Jewish Democrat
on Capitol Hill, Rep. Nita Lowey of New
York, told The
Forward that the
president's policies were increasing the danger
to Jews across the world.  "We
are very worried about the rise of antisemitism
internationally," said Lowey in an interview Monday
with The Forward. She argued that disdain
for the president and his policies has "stirred up"
antisemitic feelings worldwide. "It's a real
concern for me as a Jewish member of Congress."
Lowey's comments drew sharp criticisms from
officials at the Anti-Defamation
League and the American Jewish Congress.
"That's absurd," said the ADL's national director,
Abraham Foxman, right, when informed
of Lowey's comments. "It's worse than blaming
the victim. It's
blaming someone who stands up for
the victim." David Twersky, the
director of international
programs at the American Jewish Congress,
also objected, telling The Forward: "Without
being partisan about it, I am appalled that anyone
should attribute the rise of antisemitism in the
Islamic world, and separately in Western Europe, to
George Bush's policies in the Middle
East." One Democratic activist,
who asked not to be
identified, defended Lowey's comments: "There is certainly a strong stream
within the party, and particularly among
progressives, and many Jews are progressives,
that George Bush's inability to play well with
others and his inability to think diplomatically
and multinationally ... has increased world
hatred of the United States. There are many in
the Arab world who believe that America is run
by and owned by Jews. So it is not that hard to
get from A to B. I tend to think that any
independent analyst would tend to say the same
thing. So why try to give [Bush] the
benefit of the doubt? If he could connect these
dots it would modify his behavior and make him
think more diplomatically." 
THE Bush administration also was portrayed as
reckless by Gen. Anthony Zinni during his interview
with "60 Minutes," in which he said it "was the
worst-kept secret in Washington" that
neoconservatives had sold Bush and Secretary of
Defense Donald Rumsfeld on a plan to
democratize the Middle East. Those remarks drew
criticisms from officials at both the National
Jewish Democratic Council and the Republican Jewish
Coalition.
 Just
three days before Zinni's interview was broadcast,
Hollings took to the Senate floor to defend his
little-noticed claim earlier this month that Bush
sent the country to war in order to win Jewish
votes and protect Israel, after consulting with
Deputy Secretary of Defense Paul Wolfowitz,
Under Secretary of Defense Douglas Feith
(left) and Richard Perle, the former
chairman of the Pentagon's Defense Policy Board. In
his May 20 floor speech, Hollings also blasted the
policies of Israeli Prime Minister Ariel
Sharon and the influence of the American Israel
Public Affairs Committee, the lobbying powerhouse
in Washington known as
AIPAC.
"You can't have an Israel policy other than what
AIPAC gives you around
here," Hollings said. "I have followed them mostly
in the main, but I have also resisted signing
certain letters from time to time, to give the poor
president a chance." Hollings said he was motivated by a concern for
Israel, which he insisted has been threatened by
the turmoil in Iraq. But the South Carolina senator
drew sharp criticism from Jewish communal leaders,
Jewish political activists from both parties, and
Democratic and Republican lawmakers, including
Senator John Kerry. Foxman sent Hollings a letter May 14 arguing
that the senator's remarks were "reminiscent of
age-old, antisemitic
canards about a Jewish
conspiracy to control and manipulate the
government." During his floor speech, Hollings spoke angrily
about critics who raised such claims. "I won't
apologize," Hollings declared during a May 20
speech from the Senate floor. "I want them to
apologize to me." Zinni sounded a similar note in his "60 Minutes"
interview, complaining that he was "called
antisemitic" for writing an article in which he
mentioned Bush's neoconservative
advisers. "I mean, you know, unbelievable that that's the
kind of personal attacks that are run when you
criticize a strategy and those who propose it,"
Zinni said. "I certainly didn't criticize who they
were. I certainly don't know what their ethnic
religious backgrounds are. And I'm not
interested." © Jewish Telegraphic
Agency. 
- on this
website...
-
Senator
Ernest Hollings says Israel is behind Iraq
war 
The
full statement by the Senator
-
The Forward
Editorial on The Bush Cabal and the Iraq War:
The Ground Shifts
-
Our
index on the origins of anti-Semitism-
 Website
comment:
-
- Only
a few Americans pushed for this war, but many
more came home in boxes ...
 | 
write to David
Irving