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HERITAGE FLORIDA JEWISH NEWS, JUNE 6, 2014
Hillary's choice: Clinton to
differentiate herself from uo;00nl00 on Mideast
Ronald Sachs
Hillary Rodham Clinton speaidng at the American Jewish
Committee's Global Forum, May 14, 2014.
By Ron Kampeas
WASHINGTON (JTA) - A
month before her foreign
policy autobiography, "Hard
Choices," hits the bookstores,
HiUary Rodham Clinton made
an easy choice: She pitched
her diplomatic credentials to
a friendly Jewish audience.
Clinton's speech to the
American Jewish Commit-
tee on May 14 was meant to
send a signal to the pro-Israel
community, insiders say, that
a Clinton presidency would
smooth over tensions ruffled
by the Obama White House.
So while she broadly defended
Obama administration poli-
cies, she also suggested areas
where she had differences with
the president, such as on Iran.
"President Obama has said
that the odds of reaching a
comprehensive agreement are
no more than 50-50," Clinton
said, referring to the U.S.-led
talks between the major pow-
ers and Iran on the latter's
nuclear program.
"I personally am skeptical
that the Iranians will follow
through and deliver. I've seen
many false hopes dashed over
the years," she said. "We will
have to be tough, clear-eyed
and ready to walk away and in-
crease the pressure if need be.
"No deal is better than a bad
deal," Clinton said. "From my
perspective, we cannot and
should not accept any agree-
ment that endangers Israel or
our own national security."
Robert Wexler, the former
Democratic congressman
from Florida who was the
first major Jewish politician to
join the Obama campaign, in
early 2007, said the differences
Clinton is emphasizing re-
flected notjustherworldview,
but also the changed foreign
policy reality she heads into
should she announce for the
presidency.
"President Obama, in terms
of foreign policy, was elected
to end the wars in Iraq and
Afghanistan -- that was his
primary charge," said Wexler,
who now heads the Center
for Middle East Peace. "The
expectations the American
people would have for a Presi-
dent Hillary Clinton would
be different. The calling may
be to reassert to a degree of
American leadership, which is
entirely consistent with Sec-
retary Clinton's worldview."
Aaron David Miller, a former
Middle East negotiator under
a succession of Republicans
and Democrats, including
Bill Clinton, said Hillary
Clinton was a good soldier for
Obama's bid to transform the
world, but also demonstrated
understanding that her boss
may have overreached.
"She understood the world
was not a transformative
place, it was transactional,"
said Miller, now vice president
at the Wilson Center, a foreign
policy think tank. "In that
respect she was much more
hawkish on Syria," where
Clinton joined calls for a U.S.
strike on the Assad regime to
contain the bloody civil war.
Obama opted to seek authori-
zation for a strike from Con-
gress, and then abandoned
the option when it was clear
he lacked support.
"On Israel-Palestinians
she knew it was not going
anywhere," Miller said. "Ifttne
president wanted her to foctas
on it, she did it in a rhetorical
way, but she had no intere.,st
in being a linchpin."
That, Miller said, was in
contrast to John Kerry, her
successor, who made the
revival of Israeli-Palestinian
talks a centerpiece of his
policy only to see them col-
lapse last month.
The June 10 release of"Hard
Choices" is widely perceived as
Clinton's opening salvo for a
2016 run for the Democratic
presidential nod, the prize
Obama took from her in a
bitter 2008 primary election.
As her Jewish campaign goes
forward, a source close to
Clinton said, she and others
close to her will subtly intro-
duce three areas of Middle
East policy in which her 2008
differences with Obama were
validated over time.
They include two postures
that got her into trouble
with the Democratic base in
2008 and helped contribute
to her defeat: Her stated op-
position during the primaries
to meeting with Mahmoud
Ahmadinejad, Iran's then-
president, and her support
as a U.S. senator from New
York for legislation thatwouid
have designated Iran's Islamic
Revolutionary Guards Corps
as a terrorist group.
Obama said during the
campaign that he would meet
with Ahmadinejad, seen as a
Holocaust denier and seeker of
Israel's destruction. Obama's
campaign also mercilessly
ripped Clinton for backing
the Revolutionary Guards
designation, likening it to
: her support for the legislation
;used by President George W.
!,:to go towar with Iraq.
' "The third difference to
be highlighted is Clinton's
opposition during the '08
campaign to participating in
Durban II -- the 2009 reprise
Carrying on a tradition
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out cold water to those in attendance.
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of the 2001 U.N. anti-racism
conference that devolved into
an anti-Israel free-for-all.
Obama would not commit
during the campaign to boy-
cotting the '09 conference.
In each case, the source
argued, Clinton was vindi-
cated. Ahmadinejad ignored
Obama's spring 2009 call for
dialogue with Iran's leader-
ship. The legislative bid to
designate the Revolutionary
Guards as terrorist did not
pass, but the guards were im-
plicated in the violent repres-
sion of mass Iranian protests
following the contested 2009
presidential election andwere
accused of torturing and rap-
ing men andwomen in prisons
around Iran.
As for Durban II, the Obama
administration at first sought
avenues through which U.S.
participation would prevent
an anti-Israel tone, but even-
tually conceded this was
unlikely and chose not to par-
ticipate. The personwho made
the decision was Samantha
Power, then a National Secu-
rity Council member, who had
derided Clinton as a"monster"
during the campaign and
championed engagement in
international forums.
Clinton will face fierce re-
sistance from Republicans to
any bid to differentiate herself
from Obama. Republicans in
the U.S. House of Representa-
tives already are investigat-
ing her role in securing the
consulate in Benghazi, Libya,
before and after a September
2012 attack that left four
Americans dead.
In her AJC speech, Clinton
said she helped shepherd sanc-
tions through Congress that
in 2010 set the stage for the
pressures on Iran that brought
about Iranian President Has-
san Rouhani's election.
Sen. Mark Kirk (R-Ill.), a key
sponsor of those sanctions,
derided the claim.
"The fact is the Obama
administration has opposed
sanctions against Iran led by
Sen. Menendez and me every
step of the way, as was thor-
oughly documented at the
time," Kirk said in an email
to JTA, referring to Robert
Menendez (D-N.J). "I agree
with Secretary Clinton that
U.S. sanctions have proven
successful, but itwas the Con-
gress, not the White House,
that led the way."
At the time, Obama admin-
istration officials said they
wanted to delay the sanctions
until they were undergirded
by U.N. Security Council
sanctions, a sequence Clinton
noted in her speech. After the
Security Council resolutions
were in place, Obama green-
lighted the congressional
sanctions.
Steven Rabinowitz, a pub-
licist who works with Jewish
and Democratic groups, said
Clinton might have work to
do in a pro-Israel community
that had avidly embraced her
during her Senate career.
"I hope people can draw
the distinction between Hill-
ary the person who we know
and love and Hillary the loyal
secretary of state for the guy
who beat her and embraced
her," Rabinowitz said.
Judging from the reaction
to her AJC speech, Clinton is
on her way. Speaking imme-
diately after her was Matthew
Bronfman, a member of the
group's executive council.
"Thank you Madam Sec-
retary, and speaking of hard
choices, we know you have a
hard choice to make coming
up soon, and speaking on
behalf of AJC we hope you
make the right one," he said.
The crowd whooped its
delight.
Dylan got the
Stones to play Israel
By Dave Bender
The Algemeiner
After 52 years, the "World's
Greatest Rock and Roll Band"
tuned up for a fervently antici-
pated June 4 gig in Tel Aviv's
Hayarkon Park.
And the impetus for the Roll-
ing Stones' historic arrival dur-
ing their 14 On Fire European
tour came from none other
than Bob Dylan, according to
Israel's Channel 2 news.
"Bob Dylan was coming off
stage," guitarist Ronnie Wood
replied in a video interview to
reporters' questions, "and I
asked him, 'where you going?'
and he said, 'Israel[ We're go-
ing to Tel Aviv!'
"He had a big smile on his
face, because he loves it. And I
said to him, 'well, we've never
done it.' That planted a seed
that I'd like to play it one day.
So, here we go..."
Tickets ran from NIS 700
($200) for grass seating to
NIS 2,855 ($820) for VIP level
seating and service.
The legendary band's ar-
rival came after Pink Floyd
founding members Roger
Waters and Nick Mason pub-
licly called on the Stones not
to play in Israel.
The rock legends join a
bevy of A-list artists set to
land at Ben Gurion airport
this summer, including Justin
Timberlake, the Pixies, Neil
Young and many others, de-
spite detractors' boycott calls.
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