Sen. Bob Dole (R-Kan.), majority leader and front runner for the Republican presidential nomination, has “privately expressed envy and resentment at Jews,” according to an unauthorized biography slated to be released this fall.
Written by Stanley Hilton, a former aide and Senate counsel, the book, “Senator for Sale, an unauthorized biography of Senator Bob Dole,” claims that Dole harbors anti-Semitic views.
In a full chapter dedicated to Dole’s views toward Jews and Israel, “Summer Soldier for Israel: From Staunch Supporter to Angry Critic,” Hilton also recounts Dole’s stances of the late 1980s, which were widely categorized as anti-Israel.
“Dole sometimes privately expressed envy and resentment at Jews for having an unduly large amount of money, power and influence in the United States, and for bankrolling liberal Democrats’ campaigns. Some he called Communists,” Hilton writes in an advance copy of the book.
The alleged revelations come as Dole is leading the charge to move the U.S. Embassy in Israel from Tel Aviv to Jerusalem, a move which many Jews support.
Hilton’s book, scheduled to be published in September by St. Martin’s Press, stops one step short of calling Dole an anti-Semite.
“Like his hero Richard Nixon and many other traditional WASP Republicans, Dole has sometimes been critical of Jews, their polities and their financial power,” writes Hilton, a trial attorney living in San Francisco.
Dole’s campaign spokesman categorically denied Hilton’s charges, labeling them “wild, unfounded accusations by a low-level staffer who had no direct access to the senator.”
“Hilton displays the worst kind of commercial cynicism by throwing around the code words of `anti-Semitism’ to sell a few books,” Nelson Warfield, Dole’s campaign spokesman, said in an interviews.
“Bob Dole’s support for the Jewish people is clear and proven across a career of public service,” Warfield said.
Hilton worked for Dole for two years, ending in 1980.
In the past, dole has been criticized in the Jewish community for calling for a 5 percent cut to Israel’s foreign aid in 1990, initially;y opposing loan guarantees to help Israel resettle Soviet Jews and withdrawing from a 1990 congressional initiative recognizing jerusalem as Israel’s capital.
The book also accuses Dole of harboring “a deep dislike of such Jewish politicians as (former) Congressman Dan Glickman, a bitter rival from Kansas, and Henry Kissinger.”
Hilton claims Dole was bitter for not receiving Jewish PAC money for his election campaigns, specifically in 1988 when he ran unsuccessfully against George Bush for the Republican presidential nomination.
Dole “resolved this time to secure Republican Jewish money, and once again flip-flopped on issues pertaining to Israel,” Hilton writes.
“It would be interesting to see what happens if Dole becomes president and Arab moneymen hostile to Israel decide to give Dole more money than his current Jewish supporters,” he writers.
Jewish supporters came to Dole’s defense, saying the charges are “outrageous.”
“This is another example of the tabloid trash that is being promoted out and about in society these days,” said Matt Brooks, executive director of the National Jewish Coalition, a Republican organization.
Max Fisher, Dole’s national finance chairman and a Jewish political powerhouse, is out of the country and was unavailable for comment.
Anticipating the charge that he was an irrelevant staffer, Hilton included in the introduction to his book a letter of recommendation Dole gave him when he left his staff.
A previous book written by Hilton in 1988 does not include charges about Jews.
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