Moynihan Says Israel’s ‘special Relationship’ with U.S. is Waning

Sen. Daniel Moynihan (D.NY) warned this week that Israel’s special relationship” with the United States “is increasingly without influence” in the operations of the U.S. government. “The current disintegration in the Near East will be used as an argument for their ###ngthening and augmentation,” he added.Moynihan’s warning was contained in a speech to the concluding session of the Labor Zionist Alliance convention at the New York Sheraton Hotel Monday which was read by his assistant Richard Eaton, since the Senator was know bound in Albany.

“Those who make the Middle East policies of the United States come increasingly to be### that the preservation of democracies as ###### Middle East ought not to be a primary ###### of our strategic policy, “Moynihan told the 500 I-ZA delegates. “Instead they are of the belief that the relationship with Israel is “International’ … sustained not because it is in the logical ‘national interest’ of the U.S. but because and solely because of the exigencies of domestic politics.

Moynihan charged that “there are already amole indications that the American government regards the workings of the Israeli polity with in creasing distress. ” He said the U.S. government was conveying “an air of studied exasperation with Israel’s approach to the peace negotiations” and was viewing the workings of the Israeli democracy as “a bother.”

The Senator declared that Israel is concerned about the “precision” of the treaty with Egypt “precisely because Israel intends to abide by the treaty once it is signed. Indeed, Israel is the only Middle Eastern government involved, directly or indirectly, which understands that commitments of their government are necessarily durable. ” He said the reason is that Israel is the only Mideast country whose governmental system is “durable–in the sense that it can and will survive changes of governmental leadership.”