Top Republican House members, including Reps. John Boehner, Eric Cantor, Kevin McCarthy, and Pete Session, have written a letter to the president, which reads in part:
Despite Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu’s admission that the ill-timed announcement of the approval of a residential development was “regrettable,” it is our understanding that at your direction, Secretary of State Hillary Clinton chastised the Prime Minister on the phone and then in public. Furthermore, your Senior Advisor, David Axelrod, chose to excoriate Israel on national television. Your Administration’s decision to escalate this issue is extremely harmful to US-Israeli relations, which, according to Israeli Ambassador Michael Oren, are now at a 35-year low.
While your Administration clamors over the announcement of a proposed residential development years away from completion, fran continues to develop its nuclear weapons capability and Hamas and Hezbollah rearm and re-energize. Remarks made by your Cabinet and advisers embolden Israel’s enemies — who are wholly committed to destroying the Jewish State — and undermine the critical relationship we have with our strongest ally for democracy and peace in the Middle East.
Israel has demonstrated its willingness to advance the peace process — even when its concessions have led to decreased security. When Israel withdrew from Gaza in 2005, the region became a haven for Hamas and led to repeated rocket and mortar attacks on Israeli cities. It is therefore unrealistic for you to request that Israel continue to make significant confidence building gestures while putting no real pressure upon the instigators of armed violence.
Instead of continuing to make unrealistic demands of Israel, we encourage you and your Administration to address the real issues threatening stability in the region. We respectfully request that you publicly express the United States’ unwavering support for Israel, acknowledge its status as a willing partner in the peace process, and reiterate its sovereign right to defend itself against attacks from those who seek its destruction.
Democrats who posit themselves as friends of Israel are now in a quandary: remain silent or try to drag the administration back into the bipartisan consensus on Middle East policy?
The newly Democratic Arlen Specter tried his best in a floor speech. He got off to a very poor start, misrepresenting that “there are 1,600 new settlements in East Jerusalem in violation of Israeli commitments.” To the contrary, the apartment complex is not a “settlement,” nor is this part of an Israeli commitment. The Israeli government never pledged to forgo building in its eternal and undivided capital. He concedes, “that Prime Minister Netanyahu was blindsided by the announcement. It is further acknowledged that the Israeli Minister of the Interior is a member of the ultra-conservative Shaos party whose participation is essential to the continuation of the coalition government.” And he implores the administration to get a game plan:
These matters need to be thought through before making public pronouncements that could significantly damage the U.S.-Israeli relationship and give aid and comfort to the enemies of the Mideast peace process. The rock solid alliance between the United States and Israel has withstood significant disagreements for six decades. The mutual interests which bind these two countries together have always been stronger than the most substantial differences. The United States needs to respect Israeli security interests, understanding that Israel cannot lose a war and survive. The United States has many layers of defense to protect our security interests and survive.
I suggest that if we all take a few deep breaths, think through the pending questions and reflect on the importance of maintaining U.S.-Israeli solidarity, we can weather this storm.
Democrat Robert Andrews has sent his own letter pleading that “minor policy differences” not be allowed to disrupt the relationship and imploring the administration to work out “differences in private whenever possible.”
Allowing for understandable partisan differences and some egregious factual errors, the message is the same: enough already. The Obami have few defenders on this one and many anxious lawmakers. It seems as though once again this gang did not think through the ramifications — either domestic or international — of their own actions.
What a sad day!
The simple power of good cheer and optimism should never be underrated. Tony Snow with his intellect and looks would always have gone far. But a smaller spirit and a more pessimistic dispostion would have been decisive limitations, as they are for so many people. Snow always radiated good nature and optimism — and, perhaps surprisingly, given JPod’s characterization here, humility.
We have missed him since he exited the public stage, and the world is poorer because we won’t see him again in this life. Requiescat in pace.
This is a lovely tribute to a really wonderful guy.
Why aren’t there any Republican politicians with even one tenth the personality, the wit, the humor, the charm, the intelligence, the eloquence. and (to all appearances) the character of Tony Snow? (I guess John McCain measures up in the character category, based on his wartime experience, but I don’t think he measures up to Tony on anything else.) Why do conservatives who are anything like Tony Snow go into journalism, or law, or scholarship? Why do we end up with leaders like – well, like the current president?
Only the good die young.
It is shame that we are losing good people who can articulate.
All the dead are saints I know, but:
Considering how many of our boys he helped send over there, Tony Snow should have checked himself in to an Iraq field hospital.
Comment #7 is a good example of the decency and good will of the left.
I had spoken a couple of times with Tony on his radio show, he was was nice to me and he was truly concern for everything I had issues with. He will truly be missed by everyone. God Bless his family and his co-workers during this time.
Number 7, how in the world can you write such a terrible thing? You are such a good example of how people on the left have such a hatred for everyone that is decent and moral. Where are your morals? You ought to be ashamed!
“He assumed people liked him.”
He was probably right.
It is hard to imagine anyone disliking him.
After reading #7 and the AP and NY Times reports of Tony Snow’s death and career, I’m reminded why I can get so haughty and self righteous believing that we on the right of Amerian politics are on the side of the Saints.
Tony was such a breath of fresh air. He never felt it necessary to have a “Gotcha” moment.
When he wrote about the blessing of cancer I could totally relate, being a survivor myself.
I prayed for him and will again for his family as well.
We should all take a page from his book and live it. Thank you Tony for your gentle, kind, intelligent manner, you were a pleasure to watch and listen to.
God Bless.
Tony and Tim Russert had something in common. Even though they were on opposites sides of the political spectrum they were mature, kind and decent human beings who had a quiet religious belief and love of family. They were too young to die.
Tony Snow and his family deserve all of the good will that is being showered upon them today.
And the AP and the New York Times deserve all the indifference, distrust and suspicion that consumers increasingly feel toward them. They also deserve the financial ruin looming over them.
RIP, New York Times and AP. May it happen soon.
No. 7, do you want others to wish you the same? You are a terrible human being.
Snow, to me, embodied the American everyman,or the man mother’s wished their sons to be, and their daughters to marry.He was like a Jimmy Stewart character come to life and he radiated wholesome good cheer and affection for his fellow men.He was just so darned likeable and if you couldn’t like Tony Snow, then you can’t like anyone.Who has a bad word to say about him personally? He left his mark by being so well loved by thousands of anonymous viewers and listrners who never knew him, but felt they had and are richer for the experience.He is a wonderful role model.
Cheers, Tony. May G-d be with you.
Steven from Indiana
Podhoretz,
it’s nice to read a memorial by a journalist who actually knew Snow. Thanks for that. All the Old Media reports on his passing are replete with snide criticisms, malicious gossip, outright lies and other libels. I saw an article about his death on the MSN homepage and came straight here to see if the folks at Commentary had anything to say about it. You didn’t disappoint.
I didn’t know him, of course, but I remember how happy I was when he agreed to be the White House Press Spokesman. He did a fantastic job, especially contrasted with the performance of the hapless and embarrassing McClellan–who also turned out to be a back-stabbing twerp. It was refreshing to see a Spokesman who could handle the hyenas in the White House Press Corps. He did it with tact and good humor, too.
Like I wrote, I didn’t even know him, but I miss him. R.I.P.