DEAN VS. THE JEWS:

NEW DEAN ADVISER SAYS: ISRAEL AID SHOULD HINGE ON WITHDRAWAL: Prestowitz Appointment Raises Some Eyebrows (ELI LAKE, 12/16/03, NY Sun)

Howard Dean’s presidential campaign yesterday named a group of foreign policy advisers - including an author who calls for making America’s aid to Israel contingent on an Israeli withdrawal from the West Bank and Gaza and concludes that America’s Jewish lobby has prevented successive presidents from properly pressuring Israel to make peace with the Palestinian Arabs.

The appointment of Clyde Prestowitz, author of “Rogue Nation: American Unilateralism and the Failure of Good Intentions,” released by Basic Books earlier this year, has drawn sharp criticism from Jewish leaders and Democrats alike, including Senator Lieberman, a Democrat of Connecticut, who said the former Vermont governor should reject his new adviser’s advice.

Mr. Prestowitz writes that America’s intervention in Iraq should coincide with renewed pressure on Israelis and Palestinians to negotiate. “This should include making aid to Israel conditional on withdrawal from the West Bank and Gaza, a freeze on all settlement development, and closing of all settlements except those tentatively agreed on at Camp David and Taba.” He goes on to write, “In no way should any deal be conditioned on an end to all violence, a condition that simply gives veto power to extremists on both sides.”

The opening paragraph of the chapter Mr. Prestowitz devotes to America’s relationship with Israel and Taiwan (titled “Wagging the Dog: Two Tales”) ends with this line: “I have often felt America’s differences with the world could be largely explained in four words: Israel, Taiwan, religion, and lobby.” Writing of Hamas, Islamic Jihad, and Hezbollah, he says, “In demanding all or nothing, they are the mirror image of the Israeli hawks who favor Eretz Israel.” In a section on the pro-Israel lobby, the Dean adviser writes, “A major factor in the collapse of the peace efforts has been these lobbies’ ability to prevent U.S. pressure on Israel.”

In isolation this might not matter much, but Mr. Dean continues to take actions and make statements that suggest a really unusual lack of support for Israel.

Posted by Orrin Judd at December 16, 2003 11:10 PM