Countdown

The Risk of Unconditional Love

By Volume 9, No. 1
AAI Countdown
Posted on Wednesday January 9, 2008

Bush’s Vision or Xeno’s Paradox?
On the eve of his first-ever visit to Israel, President George W. Bush is doing what this administration does best when faced with looming failure: change the subject and dumb down the definition of victory. Now the focus of his trip is the broader Middle East, rather than Palestinian-Israeli peace; the mission billed as an effort to shore up regional support against arch-enemy Iran, not to engage as a peace broker.  Even the stated goal in the wake of Annapolis has shifted to "creat[ing] a vision of what a Palestinian state can look like"—a far cry from the cautious, but confident statement at Annapolis, declaring "an independent, democratic, viable Palestinian state [mush be realized to] provide Palestinians with the chance to lead lives of freedom and purpose and dignity."  For skeptics of Bush’s Annapolis motivations, this shift will not go unnoticed.

Huckabee’s is More Nightmare Than Vision
It took a while, but the highly controversial comments of Republican presidential candidate Governor Mike Huckabee at a New Hampshire house party are finally creating buzz in the blogosphere. According to an October 15, 2007 report by Yeshiva World News, the then-obscure presidential candidate expressed "frustration with Israeli politicians who wanted to give away the Golan Heights and firmly opposed dividing Jerusalem." Adding insult to injury, Huckabee stated that "he supports creating a Palestinian state, but believes that it should be formed outside of Israel. He named Egypt and Saudi Arabia as possible alternatives, noting that the Arabs have far more land than the Israelis and that it would only be fair for other Arab nations to give the Palestinians land for a state, rather than carving it out of the tiny Israeli state." This is the same person who responded to the assassination of Benazir Bhutto by stating that America needed to seal its southern border.  Is this guy for real?

Bipartisan Christmas Wishes
In the sprit of seasonal charity and good will, Senators John Rockefeller (D-WV) and Christopher Bond (R-MO) sent a bipartisan letter to President Bush on Christmas morning commending the administration’s reinvigoration of the Israeli-Palestinian peace process, underscoring specifically the plight of the Palestinian Christian community. The holiday missive explained that the "health and viability of this community, and indeed the coexistence of all three faith communities, is essential to the transformation of the Holy Land from the tragic symbol of strife and discord that it has become, into the powerful beacon of hope and tolerance that it can and should be." If only this benevolence of bipartisanship could last beyond the month of December!

The Risk of Unconditional Love
"The presidential candidates are no friends of Israel," according to Professors John J. Mearsheimer and Stephen M. Walt, authors of the bestselling The Israel Lobby and U.S. Foreign Policy. Claims by Senator Hillary Clinton and former Mayor Rudolph Giuliani for "Jerusalem [to] remain undivided," Senator Barack Obama’s silence during Annapolis and other major candidates’ fervent backing of Israel are "facilitating [Israel’s] pursuit of self-destructive policies that no true friend would favor," according to an L.A. Times op-ed. "A genuine friend," they argue, "would tell Israel that it was acting foolishly and…challenge [sic] the special interest groups whose hard-line views have been obstacles to peace for many years."

He Was Always Our Hero!
John E. Sununu, Republican senator of New Hampshire and the country’s most senior Arab American elected official, recently expanded his already impressive resume. Sununu became a local hero last Friday night when Al Hunt, prominent Washington journalist, began choking on his chicken dinner. According to reports, Sununu was the first to jump to Hunt’s aid and successfully performed the Heimlich maneuver. "Some people were saying they didn’t even know it had happened. But, as I say, he was fabulous," Hunt remarked. After the brief incident, the conversation among these powerbrokers, pols and pals continued otherwise uninterrupted.

Primary Politics with John and Jon
John Zogby will appear on Comedy Central’s The Daily Show with Jon Stewart on Wednesday, January 9 at 11 p.m. EST. The founding (and current board) member of the Arab American Institute and President/CEO of the polling firm Zogby International, considered by many the top pollster in the United States, will analyze and handicap the presidential races the day after the pivotal New Hampshire primary. Don’t miss it!