Hagel, Amid Criticism Over Israel Views, Nominated For Defense Secretary
print
tell a friend
Chuck Hagel
On Monday, Hagel told the Lincoln Journal Star that critics have “completely distorted” his record on Israel and that there is “not one shred of evidence that I’m anti-Israeli.”
“I didn’t sign on to certain resolutions and letters because they were counter-productive and didn’t solve a problem,” Hagel said.
Sen. Jack Reed (R-RI) last month defended Hagel’s appointment on the basis of his time as a Vietnam veteran.
“Chuck Hagel has the experience as a combat veteran with two purple hearts and an understanding that the decisions that are made in Washington ultimately are carried out by young men and women across the globe,” Reed told Politico. “That is a very important intellectual, emotional asset.”
Additionally, Sen. Carl Levin (D-MI), chair of the Senate Armed Services Committee, said Hagel would be “very well-qualified” for defense secretary, despite his disagreement with the former senator’s “Jewish lobby” comment.
(JNS)
tell a friendAbout the Author:
You might also be interested in:
You must log in to post a comment.
No Responses to “Hagel, Amid Criticism Over Israel Views, Nominated For Defense Secretary”
2
Loading ...
Senators Gildebrand and many others have been very silent on this enormously important matter.
I hope Senator Rubio goes beyond placing a hold on this nomination and considers.
a filabuster. That action would be the greatest accomplishment of his career.
As bad as Obama was in his first term, he will make it look like romper room in his second. A simple but sometimes forgotten fact is that it all starts from the top. If the leader of a nation has certain views, they are going to put in place people that share those views. The appointment of John Kerry to take over as secretary of state and Chuck Hagel as Defense secretary, are exactly what Obama wanted, primarily because they are antagonistic to Israel. I shutter to think what this country will look like in four years from now. With the privilege of voting for our public officials also comes a responsibility to forget the television ads and feel good speeches, and to spend time researching who these politicians really are and what do they truly believe. The American people had a chance to oust Obama and elect someone that would work hard to get us out of our massive financial problems as well as appointing people that would be aligned with Israel. But, that opportunity was squandered and as such we will pay a heavy price for making this blunder. For example, our neighbor to the north, Canada, has a Prime Minister, Stephen Harper, who is a strong ally of Israel, you will notice that all of his appointed cabinet members also support Israel. Not long ago, I read a story in which a large Canadian retailer was boycotting Israeli products, when Prime Minister Harper was made aware of this, a short time later that boycott was no longer in effect. We live in a world of high volatility, antisemitism and Israel bashing is also at alarming highs, it would have been nice to know that along with Canada, Israel could have had an equal ally in the United States. But, that won't happen because we elected the same person who caused or exasperated Israel's strife. Now is not the time to be weak or lose our resolve. Israel will only lose out if they are weak and they allow others to dictate to them what they should do. This is my greatest fear because there have been several occasions that Israel wavered and paid a heavy price. Nobody knows what is best for Israel better than Israel, that should never be forgotten.