Israel Matzav

Whose butt should Olmert be kissing?

If any of you are wondering how I am posting after the Sabbath started in Israel, please keep in mind that I am currently in Boston.

The Forward is reporting that many prominent Democrats are angry that Prime Minister Ehud K. Olmert made remarks critical of the manner in which House Speaker Nancy Pelosi passed his purported message on to Syrian dictator Bashar al-Assad. One, Congressman Gary Ackerman of New York, went so far as to accuse Olmert of "kissing Bush's ass" through his comments.

Hat Tip: Judith Weiss

“It’s all politics,” said Rep. Gary Ackerman, a New York Democrat who chairs the House Subcommittee on the Middle East. When asked what led Olmert to criticize Pelosi’s trip to Damascus, Ackerman said that the Israeli premier had “kissed President Bush’s ass.”

“All the criticism of Pelosi is a stupid, idiotic political bube moyse that the Republicans made up here in Washington,” Ackerman said, stressing that the entire debate had nothing to do with Israel but rather with American partisan politics.

“Bush is the only friend Olmert has left,” said a Democratic staffer on Capitol Hill. “Our impression is that Olmert does want a good relationship with the Democrats, but he feels that he needs to support the administration.”

Whose butt do they expect Olmert to kiss? Keith Ellison's? And for that matter, whom would the Dhimmicrats rather see as Prime Minister of Israel? Amir Comrade Peretz? Surely not Bibi Netanyahu!

The Forward, which is fairly left leaning itself, goes out of its way to point out that tensions between the Israeli Prime Minister and one or the other American political parties is not an unusual event:

Tense relations between Israeli leaders and American politicians from either side of the aisle are not new. During the Reagan administration, Israel worked with the Democratically controlled Congress against the White House in a failed attempt to stop a sale of surveillance aircrafts of the Airborne Warning and Control System to Saudi Arabia. When Bill Clinton was in the White House, then-prime minister Benjamin Netanyahu forged relations with Republican House Speaker Newt Gingrich in what was seen as an attempt to counter the administration’s peace efforts in the region.

In contrast, Ariel Sharon, Olmert’s political predecessor and patron, maintained an excellent working relationship with President Bush but strictly refrained from taking any position that could be seen as explicitly siding with the Republicans, and he never made any public remarks about the conduct of the war in Iraq.

They also point out - correctly - that the Democrats have been helpful to Israel in a couple of places where the Bush administration has not been helpful:

While the debate over Iraq has apparently created some discord between Jerusalem and Democratic leaders in Congress, on legislative issues there is no daylight. Democrats were responsible for curbing attempts by the Bush administration to provide support to the Palestinian Authority, and they have forced the State Department to cut back an aid package intended to bolster the forces of P.A. President Mahmoud Abbas. They have also insisted that the administration not establish ties with the new Palestinian government.

But when you look at some of the other ties the Democrats have and what they have done to some true friends of Israel - as shown by the ads in this post - you have to wonder whose side the party is really on.

posted by Carl in Jerusalem @ 8:11 PM