Yesterday, Adam Howard posted this article: McCain Can’t Quit John Hagee: Right Wing Televangelist Blames Hurricane Katrina on Gay Pride and More [VIDEO] on Alternet (by permission). The “more” includes the central issue of Israel/Palestine, the only one with foreign policy implications.
There’s been a lot of chatter over the last few days about John McCain’s embrace of Pastor John Hagee, who’s well-known for a history of anti-Catholicism and claims that God will send terrorists to create a “bloodbath” in America for its support of a two state solution in Israel/Palestine.
As Nader again stated, if the Democrats can’t win this time around, they should hang it up. And nothing portends that fate more than if the Democrats fail to take advantage of Hagee’s endorsement of John McCain. Hagee, who is the founder of the Christians United for Israel and leader of the Christian Zionists preaches only one position that is relevant to American foreign policy: Israel/Palestine. The rest is just religious bigotry.
For his position on Israel/Palestine, Hagee has received the blessings of right wing Zionists like Benjamin Netanyahu, leader of the Likud party in Israel, Joe Lieberman, and, undoubtedly, the Israel Lobby as represented by AIPAC, the Zionist Organization of America, and the American Jewish Committee, which hold a similar position
Now if Hillary, and perhaps even Obama criticize McCain’s Hagee endorsement, will they implicitly criticize Hagee’s position on Israel/Palestine?
Neither Hillary nor Obama, as far as anyone can tell, has embraced the two state solution of this seemingly interminable Middle East problem. When asked about Israel/Palestine on the campaign trail, all Hillary could manage was to repeat Israeli fomented propaganda about the alleged “terrorist” groups Hamas and Hezbollah and Israel’s security, in other words, Israel’s latest propaganda meme to stall or avoid peace negotiations. Obama has yet to be asked a direct question about a solution to the Israeli-Palestinian conflict, tending also to repeat the “security” theme when Israel comes up. That both ignored Israel’s recent bloodbath in Gaza suggests some leeriness to broach the topic.
At least for the Democratic candidates, it appears to matter little that Bush spoke unequivocally about the meaning of the Road Map on January 10:
“There should be an end to the occupation that began in 1967. The agreement must establish Palestine as a homeland for the Palestinian people, just as Israel is a homeland for the Jewish people. These negotiations must ensure that Israel has secure, recognized, and defensible borders. And they must ensure that the state of Palestine is viable, contiguous, sovereign, and independent.”
As for McCain, who yesterday received Bush’s formal endorsement, will he follow Bush’s Road Map (specified above), or will he follow Hagee’s looney prognostications, if elected president? At this point in the campaign, the same questions can also be asked of the Democratic candidates.
This is a summary of Hagee’s pronouncements on a variety of issues including Israel/Palestine from YouTube:
