Israel Matzav

The mainstream media discovers Tom Campbell's Israel problem

The Los Angeles Times reported on Thursday that support for Israel - or one of the candidate's allegedly less-than-warm support - has become an issue in the California Republican Senatorial primary.

Rivals in the race for the Republican nomination are questioning whether former Rep. Tom Campbell is sufficiently supportive of Israel. They base their criticisms on his voting record, statements about a Palestinian homeland and capital, and some of his past associates.

Their allegations have raised enough concerns for Campbell that he plans to meet Monday with the influential American Israel Public Affairs Committee. He also is reaching out to other Jewish leaders. His campaign's honorary chairman, former U.S. Secretary of State George P. Shultz, weighed in to call Campbell's support for the nation "unwavering."

"He clearly understands the very real threats facing the Israeli people, all the more urgent now as Iran rushes toward nuclear arms," Shultz said in a statement released to The Times. "Tom Campbell's record of action tells you where he stands, and I stand with him."

The two other major Republican primary contestants, former businesswoman Carly Fiorina and Orange County Assemblyman Chuck DeVore, have launched criticisms of Campbell. The rhetoric has grown so heated that a prominent supporter of Campbell's has accused Fiorina's campaign manager of calling Campbell an "anti-Semite." The campaign manager denies the accusation.

Curiously, this time, it's not the Jews Campbell is afraid of losing - it's the Evangelical Christians.

Read the whole thing - it summarizes several posts I've done over the past week. The comments of Rabbi Abraham Cooper of the Wiesenthal Center are devastating.

"He's a brilliant gentlemen and an engaging personality, and I don't think he's particularly pro-Israel," said Rabbi Abraham Cooper, the associate dean of the Simon Wiesenthal Center in Los Angeles, who has known Campbell since the 1980s. "I think there's enough there on the record that would send real alarms that this is someone who maybe doesn't fully understand, doesn't fully value or fully support a strong ongoing relationship with the state of Israel, an alliance with the state of Israel."

Ouch.

Jennifer Rubin reminds us that there's one detail that the Times left out: His association with Alison Weir.

posted by Carl in Jerusalem @ 8:01 AM