This is an enormous victory for the anti-Israel crowd both because,
1) Hagel with all his faults passed muster. Thus he will be able to push the J-Street line which is to pressure Israel into a peace agreement
2) It is further evidence of the decline of the Right, and the ascendency of the Left. In particular it underscores how the Democratic Party can no longer be seen as pro-Israel. For a list of what the democrats ignored or embraced about Hagel go to Jeff Dunetz at Breitbart. And let me remind you, AIPAC sat this one out as did the ADL. Ted Belman
JStreet – The political home for pro-Israel, pro-peace Americans
It’s official: the hawks have lost again.
Despite an unprecedented smear campaign leading to the first-ever
filibuster of a Defense Secretary nominee, Senator Chuck Hagel has been
confirmed by a vote of 58 to 41.
Over the last few months you have stood with J Street in supporting
Senator Hagel’s nomination. From our activities on Capitol Hill, to our
work in the community, and of course our “Smear a Bagel, not Chuck
Hagel” campaign, together we’ve made the pro-Israel, pro-peace case for
Sen. Hagel’s fitness to lead the Pentagon.
Groups and individuals like Bill Kristol’s Emergency Committee for
Israel, Elliott Abrams, Jennifer Rubin and /The Weekly Standard/ have
thrown everything they have — and then some — at efforts to derail
Hagel’s nomination because he doesn’t ascribe to their narrow, hawkish
views of what ‘pro-Israel’ should mean.
*Thank Senators […] for voting yes on Chuck Hagel’s nomination and
proving there’s a better way to be pro-Israel.
You should know how far your support went. J Street was the first
pro-Israel organization to back Senator Hagel’s nomination and you
provided a critical counterweight to the smears, lies and distortions
that groups like ECI spent hundreds of thousands of dollars promoting.
We are glad to see a bipartisan majority of Senators reject the spurious
accusations, outright lies and fear-mongering the far-right has
employed. Just like in November, the hawks have turned every screw they
could, trying to keep the old rules on pro-Israel advocacy in play. And
just like November — it didn’t work.
Secretary Hagel knows the only way Israel can remain a democratic
homeland for the Jewish people is through a two-state solution. And,
most importantly, he isn’t afraid to say so. As part of President
Obama’s national security team with Secretary of State John Kerry, he
has an opportunity to make real progress in reaching a two-state
solution on Israeli-Palestinian peace over the next few years.
*Join me in sending Sens. Warren and Cowan a quick thank you for voting
for Secretary Hagel’s confirmation.
Thank you,
Dylan Williams
Director of Government Affairs
CuriousAmerican Said:
I agree; the Republicans used Israel and we allowed them to. The Jews stayed for the most part outside of the debate.
I predicted from day one that Obama would get all of his nominations approved. Essentially what these nominations and approvals show if not prove, is that no Jew and especially Israel cannot rely on America and that includes the mythical pro Israel congress.
The debate on Hagel was waged badly.
Once Hagel was criticized for not being pro-Israel enough, the battle was lost.
The Secretary of Defense is supposed to look out for the USA, not Israel necessarily.
The issue should have been whether he was good for the USA? He probably is not.
A lot of Jewish groups get upset if you talk about the Jewish/Zionist lobby; but the effort made by so many makes the charge of Jewish Lobby look realistic.
This was played badly, very badly.
They could have shown that Hagel’s dismissal of Iran’s threat was bad for the USA; and he might have lost.
Once the issue was … is he good for Israel? … a lot of people asked … who runs the government?
Hagel’s weakness could easily have been shown to have compromised America. That is how the fight should have been waged.
Bringing Eliot Abrams into it was a disaster.
Obama has his man. If you wanted to stop Hagel’s nomination, the Israel issue should have been avoided. Only Iran had to be brought up.
It is a nasty world out there.
@ yamit82:
Thanks for defending me to Dweller, sorry about the Dictionary remark,couldn’t help myself I’am the daughter of a lawyer.
IMO Obama is a psychopath (he has severe personality disorders — not the least of which are his continual, pathological lies). He is an extreme menace. If one has ever had the misfortune of dealing with such deviants — one knows that they do “loyalty tests”. I believe this is why the deviant psychopath picked Hagel. It was done so as to sort out the blind sycophants (who will go to any extreme to demonstrate their personal loyalty to Obama) from the “not so blind.” Obama won (the ironic inverse of Purim).
On another level — the nomination of Hagel, and the smiling approval of this antisemite by Jewish Democrats — calls into question their presumed “hostility” (is it fake, is it feigned?) for antisemites. Thus what sort of credibility does a Dershowitz now have when he calls some would-be pope-contender an antisemite? Sure, Mr X is an antisemite who wants to be pope. But,hey, that’s just so easily resolvable — all a Dersh need do is imagine the would-be pope is an Obama appointee — so long as an Obama endorses it — Voila! All is right with the world; problem solved.
@ andrew:
True that. Man proposes: G-d disposes! We shall see.
@ yamit82:
You can add the ADL to the list of losers!
IL cannot fight every single battle. She must win the wars.
what is curious to me is that I haven’t even seen reasons given by those who support Hagel as to why they think he could possibly be suited for the position. Apparently even they don’t see him as being good for the job as they dont’t even bother to conjure up spurious rationalizations. Talk about contempt for the voting public, even their own.
Smear campaign? All Hagel’s opponents did was quote Hagel himself. JStreets kvelling makes me sick.
The problem is that we essentially have no opposition party in Washington. The Republican establishment is worse than useless.
@ Bill Narvey:
AIPAC didn’t even enter the fight.
Bill Narvey Said:
AIPAC HAS NOT WON a PR BATTLE IN OVER 30 YEARS!! Rich Fat cat political Jews mostly tied to the democratic party I might even say they are an extension of the Liberal wing of the Democratic party. They will tow the Obama line down to the last Jew in Israel. There is no contest between AIPAC and J-STREET, AIPAC Ha s vacated the field of contention to the enemy. AIPAC’a reputation is built on the perceptions and lies of Jew/Israeli hating antisemites images cultivated over the years. Reagan buried them over the Saudi AWACS deal and it’s been down hill for AIPAC ever since.
Has J Street become more powerful than AIPAC?
This is like a bad dream. Hagel during his confirmation hearing looked like he was stoned or hungover or couldn’t care less.