KERRY DOES NOT SUPPORT ISRAEL. He just lies about it, as about everything else.
John Kerry On Israel: Second To Several (Kerry's voting record)
http://www.freerepublic.com/focus/f-news/1155016/posts
I was intrigued by the suggestion that Kerry`s pro-Israel record was "second to none," so I looked it up.
The Jewish Virtual Library lists Kerry`s vote on 60 Senate bills, resolutions and other matters: "Legislative Record of Senator John Kerry on Issues of Concern to the Pro-Israel Community" (www.us-israel.org/jsource/US-Israel/kerryrecord.html).
I disregarded the 17 measures that passed with 90 or more votes (out of a possible 100), on grounds that these were not exactly profile-in-courage moments.
(That includes Kerry`s "fight" for loan guarantees to Israel, which consisted of his joining 98 other senators in 1992 in voting for Sen. Lautenberg`s resolution of support).
Then I discounted the 18 measures that garnered between 82 and 89 votes. You don`t get a "second to none" rating by simply hanging around with the 80-plus percent crowd.
I decided the best indicator of the depth of Kerry`s support would be the instances where the pro-Israel position got 60 votes or less -- by definition the most controversial situations, the ones where Kerry`s vote mattered most.
There were 10 of those votes in the JVL list, and Kerry`s record there was . . . envelope please . . . six pro-Israel votes out of 10. So in the close-call category, Kerry was basically a 60-40 guy.
The JVL list notes that, in connection with the FY 2000 Foreign Aid Conference Report, Kerry opposed the pro-Israel position. In 2000, he failed to join 60 co-sponsors of the "Middle East Peace Process Support Act" a bill calling on the president not to recognize a unilaterally declared Palestinian state. He also failed to co-sponsor the pro-Israel "Peace Through Negotiations Act," which attracted 60 co-sponsors.
In 1993, Kerry failed to join 55 senators signing the Grassley/Lautenberg letter to the State Department, which demanded that it include Hamas in its annual report on terrorism.
Half of Israel doesn't support Israel, half the time.