Re: Rightwing Republican Attacks Israel

Dan Kimmel wrote:
There's a tiny element in the American Jewish community that keeps arguing
we should embrace the Republican Party as Israel's real friends. They
don't see that Bush's "friendship" has been a disaster for Israel. Perhaps
they'll wake up when they see who is now attacking Israel for building an
"apartheid wall." None other than the loathsome Henry Hyde who, thankfully,
is in his last term and is not running for re-election. Americans have a
lot of reasons to find Hyde repugnant. Now American Jews have one more:

http://www.ynetnews.com/articles/0,7340,L-3256347,00.html

Hyde writes that Israel's actions "go beyond the realm of legitimate
security concerns and have negative consequences on communities and lands
under their occupation," places such as Bethlehem and Beit Jala. He writes
of the difficulties Christian residents have reaching holy sites such as a
result of the security fence.

"We fail to understand," he writes, "how the route of the security fence in
Jerusalem, which creates an impassible barrier between two regions
fundamental to the Christian faith - the birth of Jesus (Bethlehem) and his
resurrection (Jerusalem) and imprisons 200,000 Palestinians on the Israeli
side will improve Israel's security."




I am familiar with Henry Hyde. I went to high school with one of his sons, the ones Alec Baldwin said should be killed and their children also killed. Hyde is anathema to many because he is an anti-abortion Catholic and does not waffle about it. That is how he is known to most Americans. IIRC, he introduces a constitutional amendment against non-medical abortions every year.

Hyde's concern in this matter, as the full article makes clear, is that he thinks Israel is creating too much difficulty in allowing Christian Arabs to pass through the checkpoints. I have not read Hyde's official letter that is mentioned (but not linked) in the article. You could read what the article says as Hyde favoring security procedures on Muslim Arabs only - as if that wouldn't provoke howls of "Profiling!" and "Racism!" from the Marxist-Muslim alliance. Hyde did denounce how the Philistines treated the Church in Bethelehem when they hid inside it.

Hyde has a history of supporting Israel. In this instance, failure to appreciate Israel's need for these necessary security procedures reveals an ignorance - a pre-9/11 mindset - rather than antisemitism or even antizionism, if one can discern a difference.

Hyde is now 80-plus. He is getting out before he becomes an embarrassment like Kennedy and Byrd.

CW
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