THE PROGRESSIVE CONSERVATIVE, USA
An Online Journal of Political Commentary & Analysis
Volume XI, Issue # 23, January 20, 2009
Dr. Almon Leroy Way, Jr., Editor
Government Committed to & Acting in Accord with Conservative Principles
Ensures a Nation's Strength, Progress, & Prosperity
THE DEMOCRATS & ISRAEL
By Dr. Daniel Pipes
THE NEW DEMOCRATIC PARTY MAJORITY & U.S. FOREIGN POLICY TOWARD THE MIDDLE EAST & THE ISRAELI-ARAB
CONFLICT: WILL THE OBAMA PRESIDENCY & THE CONGRESSIONAL DEMOCRATS TURN THEIR BACKS ON ISRAEL &
SUPPORT HAMAS & HEZBOLLAH?
FULL STORY:
With Democrats now in charge of both the executive and legislative branches of the U.S. national government, what
changes might one expect in U.S. policy toward the Arab-Israeli conflict?
Personnel appointments so far fit the Center-Left mold. On the plus side, as analyst Steven Rosen observes, this
means that none of the team brings a "defined Left agenda of dangerous delusions – indeed, many of them are
sensible and intelligent, resistant, if not immune, to the nonsense that blinds the majority of academicians." Especially
when recalling Barack Hussein Obama's earlier associations (Ali Abunimah, Rashid Khalidi, Edward Said) and the
potential alternate "dream teams," this comes as a relief.
On the minus side, Rosen notes, the prospective staffers "are moderate and Centrist to a fault, with no one to sound
the alarm about the extraordinary dangers we face, to propose a response beyond the usual."
Looking at the larger picture, beyond personnel, one finds a similar mixed picture. Note the pro-Israel resolution
Congress passed earlier this month "recognizing Israel's right to defend itself against attacks from Gaza, reaffirming the
U.S.A.'s strong support for Israel, and supporting the Israeli-Palestinian peace process." It passed the Senate
unanimously and the House by 390-5, with 22 members registering "present." Of those 27, 26 were Democrats; and the
27th was Ron Paul, a Republican in name only.
This vote implies two points: First, the strong, bipartisan pro-Israel attitude of Americans has weathered the Gaza
conflict. Secondly, persons cool or hostile to Israel overwhelmingly find their niche in the Democratic Party.
Polls over the past decade consistently substantiate that Americans strongly back Israel, but Democrats less so than
Republicans. Already in 2000, I showed that "several times more members of the Republican Party are friendly to Israel
than are Democrats, and their leaderships reflect this disparity." In recent years, poll after poll confirmed this pattern,
even during the Hezbollah and Hamas wars. To cite a few:
March, 2006, Gallup: "are your sympathies more with the Israelis or more with the Palestinians?" Reply: 72 percent of
Republicans and 47 percent Democrats sympathize more with Israelis. (Difference: 25 percent.)
July, 2006, NBC/WSJ: "are your sympathies more with Israel or with the Arab nations?" Reply: 81 percent Republicans
and 43 percent Democrats sympathize more with Israel. (Difference: 38 percent.)
August, 2006, LAT/Bloomberg: Do you agree that "The United States should continue to align itself with Israel"?
Reply: 64 percent Republicans and 39 percent Democrats agree. (Difference: 25 percent.)
March, 2008, Gallup poll: 84 percent of Republicans and 64 percent of Democrats look at Israel favorably. (Difference:
20 percent.)
December, 2008. Rasmussen Reports: 75 percent of Republicans and 55 percent of Democrats say Israel is an ally of the
United States. (Difference: 20 percent.)
Republican support for Israel is persistently larger, ranging from 20 to 38 percent more than that of the Democrats and
averaging 26 percent. It was not always thus. Indeed, Democrats and Republicans have dramatically changed places in
their attitudes toward Israel over sixty years and three eras.
In the first era, 1948-1970, Democrats like Harry S. Truman and John F. Kennedy showed warmth to the Jewish state,
while Republicans like Dwight D. Eisenhower were cool. In the second era, 1970-1991, Republicans like Richard M.
Nixon and Ronald W. Reagan came to appreciate Israel as a strong ally; as I concluded in 1985, this meant that
"Liberals and Conservatives support Israel versus the Arabs in similar proportions." With the end of the Cold War in
1991, however, a third era began, in which Democrats focused on the Palestinian cause and cooled to Israel, while
Republicans further warmed to Israel.
Matt Brooks, Executive Director of the Republican Jewish Coalition rightly notes that "Democrats are increasingly
turning their backs on Israel." That trend anticipates a likely tension over the next four years, whether or not to adopt a
more "European" approach to Israel.
Tensions already exist. On the one hand, the Obama team has been uncritical of Israel's war against Hamas, while
stating that it will not deal with Hamas, that Israel is the key Middle East ally, and that U.S. policy will take Israel's
security interests into account. On the other hand, the Obama team has shown a willingness to associate with Hamas,
plus displays tendencies to a more "even-handed" approach, to push negotiations harder, and to divide Jerusalem.
In short, policy toward the Jewish state is in play.
© Daniel Pipes 2009
Originally Published in Front Page Magazine, January 20, 2009
Republished with the Permission of Daniel Pipes
Reprinted from the Daniel Pipes Mailing List, January 20, 2009
Article URL: http://www.danielpipes.org/article/6137
LINKS TO RELATED TOPICS:
American Government & the U.S. Presidency:
Presidential Politics & National Leadership
American Foreign Policy -- The Middle East
Israel & the Arabs -- The Israeli-Arab Conflict
Middle East -- Arabs, Arab States,
& Their Middle Eastern Neighbors
Islamism & Jihadism -- Radical Islam & Islamic Terrorism
Page Three
Page Two
Page One
International Politics & World Disorder:
War, Peace, & Geopolitics in the Real World:
Foreign Affairs & U.S. National Security
Page Two
Page One
Islamist Terrorist Attacks on the U.S.A.
Osama bin Laden & the Islamist Declaration of War
Against the U.S.A. & Western Civilization
Islamist International Terrorism &
U.S. Intelligence Agencies
U.S. National Security Strategy
Dr. Daniel Pipes, a Ph.D. in Islamic History (Harvard University, 1978), is the Founder and Director of the Middle East Forum,
the Founder of Campus Watch, a signatory of the Project for the New American Century, a former board member of the U.S.
Institute of Peace, a former adjunct scholar at the Washington Institute for Near East Policy, a Golden Circle supporter of the
U.S. Committee for a Free Lebanon, a former member of the U.S. Department of Defense Special Task Force on Terrorism and
Technology, and a former lecturer at the U.S. Naval War College, Harvard University, the University of Chicago, and the
University of Pennsylvania. Dr. Pipes was the Director of the Foreign Policy Research Institute from 1986 to 1993.
Author or co-author of eighteen books, Dr. Pipes is a regular columnist for Front Page Magazine, the New York
Sun, and the Jerusalem Post. His analyses of world trends and of forces and developments in the Middle East
have appeared in numerous North American newspapers, including the Washington Post, the New York Times,
and the Wall Street Journal. He frequently appears on American network television, as well as at universities and
think tanks, to discuss the Middle East, Islam, and the Islamist threat to the U.S.A. and the West. He also has appeared on
BBC and Al Jazeera, and has lectured in approximately twenty-five countries.
Dr. Pipes is a Polish-American Jew whose parents fled Poland in 1939, immigrated to the U.S.A., and assimilated well into
American society and culture. His father is Richard Pipes, an American historian specializing in Russian and Soviet history
and serving as Professor of History at Harvard University from 1950 until his retirement in 1996. During the Cold War, the
worldview of Richard Pipes was strongly anti-Soviet and anti-Communist.
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THE PROGRESSIVE CONSERVATIVE, USA
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Dr. Almon Leroy Way, Jr., Editor
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