Israel Matzav

What a surprise: Chuck 'n Chas are buddies

Well, I'm shocked, just totally shocked, to find out that the Chuckster is buddy buddy with yet another anti-Semitic failure from President Hussein Obama's first term in office: Chas Freeman.

Chuck Hagel was once proud not to be numbered among the “unequivocal, total” supporters of Israel. Hagel was once proud of his standing as a lonely figure in American public life who would stand up to those who unequivocally and totally supported Israel. Hagel was once a senator who, unlike his colleagues, was proud not to have been intimidated by “the Jewish lobby.” Hagel was proud of his votes against pro-Israel resolutions backed by the American Israel Public Affairs Committee (AIPAC), aka “the Jewish lobby.” Hagel was contemptuous of those who signed AIPAC-endorsed pro-Israel letters.

No, Chuck Hagel was not one of those “unequivocal, total” supporters of Israel like his colleagues in the United States Senate. No siree!

For example, during the 2002 Palestinian terror campaign against Israel, Senator Chuck Hagel was willing to say that “both Israelis and Palestinians are trapped in a war not of their making,” and that “Israel must take steps to show its commitment to peace.” After he left the Senate, Hagel became co-chair of the Atlantic Council. His vice chair on the board is Chas Freeman.

Remember him? Freeman had been forced to withdraw as a nominee for an Obama administration intelligence post in 2009 because his hostility to Israel was so manifest. New York senator Chuck Schumer said, after Freeman withdrew, “His statements against Israel were way over the top and severely out of step with the administration.” 

Hagel evidently hasn’t persuaded Freeman to mend his ways. Just a month ago, on December 1, 2012, here’s what Hagel’s vice chair, Chas Freeman, declared:

In some countries, like the United States, Israel can rely upon a “fifth column” of activist sympathizers to amplify its messages, to rebut and discredit statements that contradict its arguments, facts, and fabrications, and to impugn the moral standing of those who make such statements.

So far as we know, Chuck Hagel had no problem with what Chas Freeman said in December 2012. But in January 2013, Chuck Hagel morphed into Mr. Unequivocal and Total Supporter of Israel.

I hope the Senate Armed Services Committee asks Chuck whether he agrees with that statement. It'll be fun to watch the worm squirm.

Read the whole thing.

Labels: Barack Hussein Obama, Chas Freeman, Chuck Hagel

posted by Carl in Jerusalem @ 5:42 PM