Israel Is OK with Hagel as Secretary of Defense

Atlantic Wire ^ | 1/11/13 | Connor Simpson

[OKRA2012]

Republicans trying to raise a case against confirming Chuck Hagel have cited not so kind remarks about Israel -- or "the Jews," as he's been quoted calling them -- as a reason not to confirm, but that could be a hard sell when Israel's departing Deputy Foreign Minister thinks Hagel is an alright guy.

[skeeter]

Golly, after reading the article it turns out its not "Israel" who is "OK" with Hagel, but a single member of Israel's foreign ministry who is "singing his praises" or more accurately, calling Hagel a fair interlocutor.

I wonder if Yahoo! news would be surprised that a foreign diplomat would be inclined to say nice things about a guy who may soon be secty of state of the most powerful nation in the world.

[Servant of the Cross]

B.S. headline. Departing Deputy Foreign Minister Danny Ayalon is 'Okay with Hagel'. He obviously doesn't speak for Israel.

[onyx]

Look here Nachum, departing Deputy Foreign Minister Danny Ayalon speaks for ALL of Israel.

How about that?

[stuartcr]

JINO

[OKRA2012]

It just appears to be one person in the Israeli government that is ok with Hagel and that person does not dictate who can and should be our Sec of Defense. But, the Senate before voting on Hagel will need to determine if the Israeli government has a negative opinion of Hagel.

[Nachum]

There is a reason he is “departing” :)

[dfwgator]

I take it he is with the Labor Party?

[Venturer]

Israel’s departing Deputy Foreign Minister thinks Hagel is an alright guy.

Tere are a lot of self hating Jews obviously. They backed Obama.

[onyx]

LOL. Good riddance, then.

[MestaMachine]

Yisrael Beteinu. This is surprising coming from Ayalon. Got to be more to the story.

[TruthInThoughtWordAndDeed]

The leadership of Israel now knows with certainty that they are on their own. With the loss of the protection of the USA, they have no powerful protection from any nation on earth.

They do, however, have a powerful protector - even if they do not acknowledge Him.

Against an existential threat to Israel, He, through Israel, will soon fulfil the prophecies of Psalm 83.

I wager that it will happen before summer is out.

http://unsealedprophecy.wordpress.com/2012/02/20/psalm-83-war-imminent/

[Romulus]

He obviously doesn't speak for Israel.

Well we'd better find out who does, because we clearly can't be appointing people to high office in the United States without Israeli oversight.

[Ooh-Ah]

Got this email response:

This story was meant to be bad for Jews and if you read the comments, it succeeded. Israel ALWAYS says a person being nominated for a position in the USG is fine with them - THEY understand that they aren't allowed to have an opinion about a President's pick. But when you write the story that way, people make it sound as if the Israelis were asked whether they approve.

It's Catch 22 - if they say they "approve," you get these people saying they don't WANT Israeli "approving" Cabinet picks, and they're right. If Israel says it doesn't "approve," then those same people say, "Who cares what Israel approves?" Under no circumstances can Israel win.

[jjotto]

Yep. Jews can’t win.

Think of the rampant Jew-bashing because American Jews don’t put Israel first when voting. Then consider the Jew-bashing when an American Jew mentions concerns about Israel when it comes to, say, a candidate to become a Cabinet member...

[jmaroneps37]

What else could Israel say? If they say “No we don't like him,” it looks like they are trying to tell Obama what to do. That gives him a perfect excuse to nominate Hagel. This way they avoid a fight they know they can't win and keep Obama pacifies for a while. It is a shame it has to be this way but it is Obama’s fault.

[csmusaret]

I think Obama chose Hagel, not to pick a fight with Republicans, but to tell Israel “We DON’T have your back if you attack Iran”.