News Analysis: Sununu’s Departure May Be Welcome, but It’s Unlikely to Change Policy

John Sununu’s resignation as White House chief of staff has disappointed few in the pro-Israel community, who have long been unhappy that one of President Bush’s closest advisers is unabashedly pro-Arab.

But his departure is likely to have little effect on the Bush administration’s policy toward Israel, according to experts and organizational leaders in the Jewish community.

That’s because U.S. policy toward Israel has been a hands-on issue for Bush, Secretary of State James Baker and a circle of White House and State Department aides, the leaders say.

U.S. Middle East policy “is made by the president and the secretary of state,” said Malcolm Hoenlein, executive director of the Conference of Presidents of Major American Jewish Organizations. “I have no reason to believe that there would be any major change.”

But a pro-Israel lobbyist here charged that Sununu, as the “gatekeeper” for information reaching the president, passed on newspaper articles critical of Israel to Bush “that the president wouldn’t have seen in a hundred years.”

Pundits here are expecting that Bush will name Transportation Secretary Samuel Skinner to replace Sununu. Hoenlein said that Skinner recently visited Israel and is “understanding” of the pro-Israel community’s interests.

In explaining Sununu’s possible influence on the course of U.S.-Israeli relations, the lobbyist charged that some of Bush’s public comments on Israel may have been influenced by what he has been handed by Sununu.

In particular, Sununu, who is of Lebanese descent, knows of Bush’s “raw nerve” on the subject of Israeli settlements in the administered territories, the lobbyist said.

REPORTEDLY BLAMED PRO-ISRAEL FORCES

Sununu clearly “was in the position to have an influence” on the president’s policies toward Israel, said Hoenlein. He said that despite the fact that Sununu often told Jewish groups that he did not use his position to intercede on behalf of the Arab-American community, there were times when he appeared to promote an anti-Israel agenda.

In August, Sununu was reported to have blamed pro-Israel forces for drumming up opposition to him following bad press he received over his use of military jets for private travel. Later he denied making any such statement in a letter of apology to Jewish leaders.

Sununu did provide American Jews “with unprecedented direct access” to the White House, said Matthew Brooks, executive director of the National Jewish Coalition, a Republican group. But he conceded that it was usually the chief of staff himself who would meet with Jewish leaders.

On domestic issues, Sununu was not “particularly friendly to issues of concern of the Democratic Party or Jewish interests,” said Steve Gutow, executive director of the National Jewish Democratic Council.

He said it is the “entire administration” that is “unresponsive or in many ways antagonistic to this community. I don’t think John Sununu’s departure is likely to change that.”

Brooks stressed that “Sununu’s niche was on the domestic side” and not on foreign policy.