THE Jewish WEEKLY STANDARD has obtained a fact sheet circulating widely on Capitol Hill. It details the record on a number of issues of former GOP senator Chuck Hagel, a leading candidate to be nominated by President Obama as the next secretary of defense:
Tuesday 25 December 2012
‘Introduction to the Reading of Hagel’
"Terrorism"
1. In November 2001,
Hagel was one of 11 Senators who refused to sign a letter requesting
President Bush not meet with Yassir Arafat until forces linked to
Arafat’s Fatah party ceased attacks on Israel.
2. In December 2005,
Hagel was one of 27 Senators who refused to sign a letter to President
Bush requesting the U.S. pressure the Palestinians to ban terrorist
groups from participating in legislative elections.
3. In July 2006,
Hagel called on President Bush to demand an immediate cease-fire when
Israel retaliated against Hezbollah after the terrorist group attacked
Israel, abducted two IDF soldiers, and fired rockets at Israeli
civilians.
4. In August 2006, Hagel was only of 12 senators who refused to sign a letter asking the EU to declare Hezbollah a terrorist organization.
5. In 2007, Hagel voted against designating Iran’s Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps (IRGC) a terrorist organization.
Israel and “the Jewish Lobby”
1. In October 2000, Hagel was one of only four Senators who refused to sign a letter expressing support for Israel during the second Palestinian intifada.
2. In July 2002, in a Washington Post op-ed,
after several of the most deadly months of Palestinian suicide
bombings, Hagel wrote that the U.S. was erroneously “making Yassir
Arafat the issue,” that Palestinians could not be expected to make
democratic reforms as long as “Israeli military occupation and
settlement activity” continue, and that “Israel must take steps to show
its commitment to peace.”
3. In November 2003,
Hagel failed to vote on the Syria Accountability Act authorizing
sanctions on Syria for its support of terrorism and occupation of
Lebanon. The Act passed by a vote of 89 to 4.
4. In July 2006,
Hagel called on the Bush Administration to take up the Beirut
Declaration of 2002, also known as the "Saudi Peace Initiative," saying
it was “a starting point” that had been “squandered” by the United
States. It calls on Israel to retreat from the Golan Heights, the West
Bank, and much of Jerusalem, including the Jewish Quarter of the Old
City and the Western Wall, as a precondition for peace.
5. In calling upon
President Bush to demand an immediate ceasefire after Israel responded
to a Hezbollah attack in 2006, Hagel said: “This madness must stop," and
accused Israel of "the systematic destruction of an American friend --
the country and people of Lebanon."
6. “The political reality is that … the Jewish
lobby intimidates a lot of people up here.” (Hagel interviewed in Aaron
David Miller’s 2008 book The Too Much Promised Land)
7. In 2009,
Hagel signed onto a letter urging President Obama to open direct
negotiations with Hamas, a U.S.-designated terrorist organization
dedicated to the violent destruction of Israel and which has perpetrated
dozens of suicide bombings that have killed or injured hundreds of
civilians in Israel, including many Americans.
8. The National Jewish Democratic Council says Hagel has “a lot of questions to answer about his commitment to Israel.”
9. When questioned about his pro-Israel record
during a meeting in New York with supporters of Israel, Hagel is
reported to have said, “Let me clear something up here if there’s any
doubt in your mind. I’m a United States Senator. I’m not an Israeli
senator. I’m a United States Senator. I support Israel. But my first
interest is, I take an oath of office to the constitution of the United
States. Not to a president, not to a party, not to Israel.”
Iran
1. On July 24, 2001, Hagel was one of only two U.S. senators who voted against renewing the Iran-Libya Sanctions Act.
2. In June 2004, Hagel refused to sign a letter urging that President Bush highlight Iran’s nuclear program while at the G-8 summit.
http://www.weeklystandard.com/
Posted @ 10:06
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