Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu earlier this month had another round of tense talks with the Obama administration, but got a much warmer welcome from one of the rising Republican stars on Capitol Hill, Congressman Eric Cantor, the incoming majority leader of the House.
Cantor met with the Israeli leader for more than an hour, and reportedly told him that the Republican Party would stand firmly with Israel against President Obama, who is perceived by pro-Israelis as being hostile to Israel’s concerns.
After their meeting, Politico magazine reported that “Israeli sources characterized the one-on-one meeting between an Israeli prime minister and a lone American lawmaker as unusual, if not unheard of.”
Politico also commented that Ron Kampeas, a veteran observer of US-Israel relations, described Cantor’s pledge to help Israel as “an eyebrow raiser.”
Politico found the Kampeas quote, on the blog of the Jewish Telegraph Agency: “I can’t remember any (US) opposition leader telling a foreign leader, in a personal meeting, that he would side, as a policy, with that leader against the president.”
The website of the independent Washington Monthly did not mince its words in a commentary by Steve Benan, who wrote: “Eric Cantor met privately with a foreign head of state to promise to undermine the foreign policy of the United States. Remember when American officials were supposed to think foreign policy issues stopped at the water’s edge?
“This is a legitimate scandal worthy of far more attention…. I fully expect members of Congress from both parties to demand accountability of the White House,” he said.
But, and there is a but here, while many of the newly empowered Republicans are eager to promote themselves as Israel’s staunchest defenders in Washington, the reconfigured American political landscape is a more complex and unpredictable backdrop from Middle East peacemaking.
The wild card in this new Congress, which comes to office in January, are the dozens of Tea Party-backed candidates, many of whom favor isolationism policies and are determined to cut American foreign aid, regardless of its destination.
Rand Paul, the newly elected Tea Party-backed senator from Kentucky, bluntly told the American Israeli Public Affairs Committee, AIPAC, that they were going to disagree about the need for foreign aid and suggested that they move on to another topic, according to a person who was present at the meeting.
Some here are speculating on the power of the Tea Party-backed lawmakers, and how far they will be willing to rock the boat regarding Israel.
Lawmakers, one must note, do not have the kind of leverage over Middle East policy that they have on matters that require Congressional approval; such as the arms treaty with Russia currently being blocked by Senate Republicans, or big-ticket appropriations, like the health care law.
But they are not powerless. They can criticize the White House in public, as they did last April when nearly two-thirds of the members of Congress signed letters to Secretary of State Hillary Rodham Clinton urging the administration to diffuse tensions with Israel over illegal settlement construction.
Although the White House did not back down on its demands from the Israeli government, Clinton did give two conciliatory speeches to Jewish groups, reconfirming America’s commitment to Israel’s security.
And, with powerful friends like Cantor, a Virginia Republican and one of the highest-ranking members of Congress, the Israeli government was viewed by some as one of the big winners of the midterm elections.
The Republican-controlled House, analysts say, will be more predisposed to defend Netanyahu against President Obama, who has repeatedly clashed with the prime minister over the president’s demand that Israel freeze illegal settlements to advance peace negotiations with the Palestinians.
“The administration has to take into account that Israel now has a friendly forum,” Abraham Foxman, National Director of the Jewish Anti-Defamation League, told reporters. “It will therefore have to think carefully about doing things.”
There will be many Republican voices staunchly in Israel’s corner. The incoming Republican chairwoman of the House Foreign Affairs Committee, Rep. Ileana Ros-Lehtinen of Florida, is staunchly pro-Israel. Observers think she will push the administration even harder than her Democratic predecessor, Rep. Howard Berman of California, to put sanctions into effect against Iran for its nuclear program.
