Sen. Robert Dole (R-Kan.) says he is concerned he “may have offended my Jewish friends” by making remarks strongly critical of Israel and its steadfast supporters in the United States.
But, in an interview with the Kansas City Jewish Chronicle, Dole maintained that “friends should be able to question and disagree.”
“Maybe I didn’t say it right. Maybe that’s my problem,” he told Stan Rose, the paper’s publisher, in an interview published last Friday.
The Senate minority leader was asked about a recent interview he gave the Jerusalem Post, in which he accused American Jewish leaders of “selfishness,” saying they “wouldn’t give one penny” of U.S. foreign aid now going to Israel to any other country.
Dole said he was referring specifically to the American Israel Public Affairs Committee, the pre-eminent pro-Israel lobby in Washington, and its executive director, Thomas Dine.
“I consider him a friend. But sometimes he comes on too strong,” said the senator, who is famous for his own blunt speech.
“I can’t see where cutting 5 percent off the aid we are giving to Israel should upset him so much,” Dole said.
The senator was referring to the proposal he made earlier this year, in which he proposed a 5 percent across-the-board cut in U.S. economic assistance to Israel and the four other top recipients of American foreign aid.
Dole was asked in the interview whether he was “fronting” for President Bush by making such a proposal.
“Let’s just say that we agree on certain things,” he replied.
ISRAEL OUGHT TO ‘GIVE A LITTLE’
But he added, “Just because I advocate a cut in foreign aid to the five countries we aid most heavily so we can help the new democracies in Eastern Europe, it doesn’t mean I am anti-Israel.”
Israel, he said, “should be willing to give a little. I believe it would be good for Israel to do that in the eyes of the rest of the world.”
The Republican leader has taken flack for some other of his recently articulated positions, including his opposition, after the fact, to a Senate resolution that declares united Jerusalem to be Israel’s capital — a resolution he co-sponsored and voted for before switching his position.
“I favor that, but I believe the timing for this resolution was terrible. It only inflamed an already sensitive situation,” he told Rose.
The non-binding resolution adopted on March 22 was a response to a statement by Bush that seemed to question Israel’s rights of sovereignty in Jerusalem.
The president said at a March 3 news conference that there should be no “new settlements in the West Bank or East Jerusalem.”
Dole, who was in Israel from April 12 to 15 on a senatorial junket through the Middle East, also had some advice that many Israelis agree with.
“Israel ought to change its electoral system,” he said. Personally he prefers Labor Party leader Shimon Peres over Likud leader Yitzhak Shamir to be the next prime minister, the senator admitted.
“But under Israel’s political system, neither one can get anything done. When a 90-year-old rabbi from Brooklyn is able to dictate final decisions to the government of Israel, it’s time for a change,” Dole declared.
He was referring to reports that intervention by the Lubavitcher rebbe, Rabbi Menachem Mendel Schneerson, frustrated Peres’ attempts to establish a Labor-led coalition government.
The Lubavitch movement claims the 88-year-old rebbe made clear his views on the peace process, but did not instruct anyone how to vote.
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