Senate Inquisitors Air Strobe Talbott's Views on Israel

By Paul Findley

"All fools aren't dead. Some of them aren't even sick." This witticism comes to mind while observing the reaction of some pro-Israel forces to President Clinton's nomination of Strobe Talbott to be deputy secretary of state.

Usually clever and successful in staging publicity that casts Israel in the best light possible, they have acted like juveniles in a hopeless campaign to frustrate Talbott's approval by the U. S. Senate.

As keen participants in our political process and experts on the personalities that lead it, they must have known that Talbott would easily win confirmation. The vote was 66 to 31. Instead of turning the inevitable to the best advantage possible by ignoring his past statements, they irritated the official they will want to influence in the future and advertised widely the solid criticism of Israel that he expressed years ago.

The result: Millions of Americans now know that President Clinton has a deputy secretary of state who has publicly described the state of Israel as an "outright liability ... .. heartless" and "rather nasty and bitter."

A veteran byline writer for Time magazine, as well as longtime friend and once the university roommate of Bill Clinton, Talbott is now second only to Secretary of State Warren Christopher as the American most influential in the world of diplomacy. He is the first top diplomat on the public record recognizing that U.S. Jews wield influence far beyond their numbers and describing Israel as a govermnent that interferes successfully in U.S. politics.

Among the quotations widely circulated recently by U.S. Jewish organizations are the following from a Talbott article in the Sept. 7, 1981 Time:

"The sad fact is that Israel is well on its way to becoming not just a dubious asset but an outright liability to American security interests, both in the Middle East and worldwide ...

"A policy aimed at inducing Israel to behave more compatibly with American global interests ... might help rescue that [U.S.-Israel] relationship from the mistrust, misunderstandings and misconceptions that have begun to eat at its foundations-starting with the delusion that Israel is, or ever has been, primarily a strategic ally ...

"Some of the [U.S.] aid is not critical to Israel's defense. In fact it amounts to a subsidy to the Israeli defense industry ' which in turn sometimes competes with the U.S. on world markets...

"Israel sometimes seems to have taken on the visage and tone of a rather nasty and bitter nation, even a violent one ... Israel has been interfering skillfully and successfully in U.S. politics for decades...

"It is high time for the U.S. to engage Israel in a debate over the fundamental nature of their relationship. If that means interfering in Israeli internal politics, then so be it."

On Oct. 10, 1990, Talbott wrote:

"Ariel Sharon ... is busily creating 'new facts,' in the form of Jewish settlements on the West Bank. Saddam, too, is in the new-facts business with his systematic obliteration of Kuwait nationhood. "

Jewish organizations inspired Senate Republicans to engage in a heavy attack against Talbott. Senator Jesse Helms, a Republican who had sharply criticized Israel in the past but did a complete turnabout after pro-Israel forces gave him election-day fits a decade ago, displayed poster enlargements of the above quotations to television cameras.

The unintended effect of the attack by supporters of Israel was to bring Talbott's views to a far larger audience than he had achieved through Time magazine articles in past years. The floor debate, like the committee hearings, was broadcast in its entirety on nationwide television.

In the committee hearings, Talbott understandably recanted a bit. He declared, "I do want to set the record straight on the question of my view of Israel as a strategic asset. On that I have simply changed my opinion. " He said, "My core beliefs are also that we have a special obligation for reasons not only rooted in our moral obligation to Israel, but also rooted in our geopolitical interests,to support the security of Israel."

A Far From Complete Turnabout

But Talbott's expressed turnabout was far from complete. He said his observation that American Jews had power beyond their numbers was "simply a statement of fact." He left most of his past criticisms of Israel unrecanted.

In an editorial, the New York Post concluded: "The ex-journalist's confirmation conversion wasn't, to be sure, remotely convincing. The Time columns, after all, appeared under his name and they reflect a consistent line of analysis." The Post added: "The litany of mea culpas Talbott felt called upon to recite ... proves only that he's highly anxious to secure confirmation as deputy secretary of state."

Talbott's recanting aside, President Clinton now has a senior diplomat and close friend who understands the threat to U.S. national interests posed by Israel. He will be challenged, of course, by the assortment of pro-Israel officials in high places, but understanding is the first step toward wise policy.

Former Congressman Paul Findley is chairman of the Council for the National Interest.

SIDEBAR

Living Under Israeli Occupation

The toll of human rights violations by Israeli forces since Dec. 9, 1987

Deaths …1,283

Injuries requiring hospitalization…130,472*

Expulsions…481

Administrative detentions…22,088

Curfews (areas with 10,000+ population under 24-hour curfew) …14,997
(Plus almost constant curfews over entire West Bank and Gaza from Jan. 16-Feb. 28, 1991)

Land confiscation (acres) …116,918

House demolitions/sealings…2,533

Tree uprootings…184,257

Source: Palestine Human Rights Information Center, Jerusalem/Washington, (202) 686-5116 Preliminary figures through Dec. 31, 1993.

*Estimated number