Is Ron Paul Hero Or A Hack?

JoeClarke.Net ^ | 12/29/2011 | JoeClarke.Net

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Ron Paul is not anti-Semitic but is anti-Israel, former aide says
‘He wishes the Israeli state did not exist at all,’ says former senior aide; ‘He has zero credibility and should not be taken seriously,’ Paul camp responds.
By Natasha Mozgovaya and Haaretz
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Republican presidential candidate hopeful Ron Paul supports calls for the abolishment of Israel as a Jewish state, and the return of it, in its entirety, to the Arabs, though he is not an anti-Semite, Eric Dondero, a former senior aide of the libertarian Texan congressman, wrote in a blog, on Monday.

“He wishes the Israeli state did not exist at all,” Dondero wrote in his blog on RightWing News “His view is that Israel is more trouble than it is worth, specifically to the America taxpayer.”

U.S. Republican presidential candidate and Representative Ron Paul (R-TX) speaks at a Town Hall Meeting at the Historic Clinton Engines Building in Maquoketa, Iowa, December 22, 2011.

Photo by: Reuters
“He sides with the Palestinians, and supports their calls for the abolishment of the Jewish state, and the return of Israel, all of it, to the Arabs.”

“Eric Dondero is a disgruntled former staffer who was fired for performance issues,” CBS news quoted Paul spokesman Jesse Benton’s response to the column. “He has zero credibility and should not be taken seriously.”

A recent Public Policy Polling telephone survey of 597 likely Republican caucus voters in Iowa found Paul leading with 23 percent of the vote, followed by 20 percent for former Massachusetts Governor Mitt Romney and 14 percent for Gingrich, making Paul the leading candidate in the Republican race for the White House.

Paul’s views on Israel are already known to many. These views led the Republican Jewish Coalition, a organization of Jewish Republicans to exclude the Texan congressman from a debate they held in the beginning of December, explaining ,” there is no reason “to allow Paul to pretend he is anything but an extremist who is far outside of the mainstream, especially when it comes to issues concerning the U.S.-Israel alliance.”