Flush with the success of a just-concluded round of meetings with Israeli Prime Minister Yitzhak Rabin, President Bush made the case for his leadership to a dozen members of the Jewish press he called to the White House on Tuesday.
The amicable roundtable discussion, called the week before the Republican convention in Houston, seemed a transparent effort to woo the support of American Jews who have been alienated by the Bush administration’s hard-line posture toward Israel and seeming insensitivity to its supporters.
Bush expressed deep regret that his criticism of the pro-Israel lobby on loan guarantees last September aroused widespread anger, saying his remarks were misunderstood and that he had apologized.
He also accused Democratic presidential nominee Bill Clinton of “mischaracterizing” those remarks to “obfuscate a good record on the Middle East.”
Clinton has said Bush questioned the right of Jews to lobby for a cause they hold dear.
“I never would have said that, and if a single person was offended, I feel badly,” said Bush. “Everyone has a right to petition, and I have a right to stand up for what I believe in.”
And while the president acknowledged there had been strains in the U.S.-Israeli relationship, he said he did not understand the source of Jewish mistrust of him when it comes to Israel. He said his entire record of accomplishments in the area was solid and should be examined.
“I had to do what I thought was right (on Israel), and that was in conflict with the previous administration,” he explained.
But Bush pointed with evident satisfaction to the agreement he had announced earlier in the day to provide Israel with guarantees for up to $10 billion in loans.
The president said he was pleased to “see through what I began.”
He also cited U.S. diplomacy that has advanced the Middle East peace process, brought about the repeal the U.N. General Assembly resolution branding Zionism as racism, and helped end Israel’s isolation in the international community.
WILL PROD ARAB PARTIES
He pledged to use the same diplomatic pressure to prod the Arab parties to “respond in kind” to the commitment of the new Israeli government to the peace process, including taking steps to end the Arab boycott.
The president also highlighted U.S. strategic cooperation with Israel during the Persian Gulf War and U.S. efforts to get Jews out of the former Soviet Union and Ethiopia.
Though he said he had been “meticulous” about not interfering in Israel’s internal politics, it was clear he was delighted by the rapport he established with Rabin during the newly elected Israeli prime minister’s visit to Bush’s Maine vacation home.
“We hit it off pretty well, said the president. “I like what he stands for and what he said.”
Bush did not dispute the suggestion that he was out of step with the majority of Jews on such issues as school prayer and abortion rights. But he said that, aside from Israel, there are other areas of agreement.
“If these are the only issues, I can understand why I don’t get a majority of votes, I wouldn’t have a case,” said the president, who won 30 percent of the Jewish vote in 1988.
“But I have stood up against anti-Semitism and hate crimes,” he said. He said he also shared Jewish families’ concern for safe neighborhoods and strong anti-crime measures. Later in the discussion, he added that the elimination of the threat of nuclear war was also common ground.
“The Jewish community and the WASP community,” he said, with a smile, “all have children that used to go to bed afraid” of nuclear war. That is no longer the case, he said.
‘SILENCE OF THE ’30S AND ’40S IS GONE’
Returning to Middle East policy, Bush said the United States has an active role to play in mediating the conflict between Israel and Syria.
“I see America as the catalyst trying to end the state of belligerency,” he said.
But alluding to differences he has with Syrian President Hafez Assad on such issues as terrorism, he said the United States is not neutral.
“The role of the United States is to try to keep the peace talks going, always understanding we have a special relationship with the State of Israel,” he said.
He said the United States would “guarantee Israel’s qualitative edge. Nothing will happen to change that.”
Bush also pledged that the lessons of the Holocaust would not be forgotten during the current crisis in what was formerly Yugoslavia.
While he said he could not “certify” that the systematic genocide of the Holocaust is repeating itself, “I will do everything I can to end the suffering.”
“The silence of the ’30s and ’40s is gone,” he asserted. The “fundamental difference” between now and then, he said, is “an awareness, a conscience, and no matter what the facts are, we can’t have inaction.”
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