Gingrich Prostration Caps Month of Congressional Prostitution for Pro-Israel Votes, Campaign Contributions

By Shirl McArthur

Leading the largest bipartisan delegation of senators and representatives ever to visit Jerusalem, House Speaker Newt Gingrich (R-GA) in late May prostrated himself before the god of Jewish campaign contributions and votes, culminating a month of frenzied prostitution by members of Congress from both parties for those same favors.

The buildup to the events of May began much earlier, when the Clinton administration began pressuring the government of Israeli Prime Minister Binyamin Netanyahu to accept the American proposal to get the peace process moving again, which reportedly included a 13.1 percent withdrawal from the occupied West Bank. This prompted the Israeli lobby to crank up its machinery, and, as described in detail in the last issue of the Washington Report, congressional pressure, mostly in the form of several highly publicized letters, caused the administration to back off from its threats to publicize its proposals.

Then, during the week of May 4, after Secretary of State Madeleine Albright invited Netanyahu to visit Washington the following week to meet directly with President Clinton, the frenzy began in earnest. In the Senate on May 6, Sen. Alfonse D’Amato (R-NY) made public a letter to Clinton saying that “the brave Israeli citizens who stand ready to defend their nation should be supported by us in every fashion,” and that “it is not just bad policy; it is wrong” to “place an ultimatum on Israel at this time.” At a press conference, D’Amato and Arlen Specter (R-PA) called an ultimatum “wrong and unproductive.” Separately, Sen. Connie Mack (R-FL) said, “we should not publicly pressure an ally to violate their own security assessment.”

In the House, also on May 6, Reps. Eliot Engel (D-NY), Bill Paxon (R-NY), Steve Rothman (D-NJ), and Jim Saxton (R-NJ) released the text of their letter strongly urging Clinton not to pressure Netanyahu. (When the letter was finally sent, after being circulated in the House for more than a month, it contained 236 signatures. For the full list see page 26.) And a group of Democratic congressmen—Reps. Howard Berman (CA), Peter Deutsch (FL), Engel, Martin Frost (TX), Nita Lowey (NY), Rothman, and Brad Sherman (CA)—held a separate press conference to say they would resist any efforts to use foreign aid as a lever to pressure Israel.

The Leader of the Pack

But the leader of the pack was Gingrich. He held a separate press conference on May 6, accompanied by House International Relations Committee Chairman Benjamin Gilman (R-NY) and Paxon, during which he said that “now it’s become the Clinton administration and Arafat against Israel,” and that, as Israel celebrates its 50th anniversary, “the Clinton administration says, ‘Happy Birthday. Let us blackmail you on behalf of Arafat.’” Gingrich also released the text of a letter he sent to Clinton in which he said that for the U.S. to “unilaterally design a ‘solution’ or force Israel to the table…would send a clear signal to the supporters of terrorism that their murderous actions are an effective tool in forcing concessions from Israel.”

Then it got worse. During Netanyahu’s Washington visit, congressional leaders made no effort to restrain themselves. Gingrich, in a May 12 interview with Associated Press, in a statement he later denied making, called Albright “the agent for the Palestinians.”

At a May 14 luncheon in Netanyahu’s honor on Capitol Hill, Senate Majority Leader Trent Lott (R-MS) said, “I hope the administration will not show partiality toward the Palestinians.” Gilman said, “Mr. Prime Minister, you are not only among friends, you are among family,” using the Hebrew word “mishpochah” for family.

Gingrich accused President Arafat of “inciting people to emotionalism and violence.” (According to the Israeli newspapers Ma’ariv and Yediot Ahronot, Netanyahu pledged to use his support in Congress to “set fire to Washington” if Clinton continued to press for the 13.1 percent withdrawal.)

Gingrich then took his message (and his pitch for Jewish votes and contributions) directly to the source: AIPAC. (Gingrich’s chief of staff, Arne Christenson, previously served as AIPAC’s legislative director and once lived on a kibbutz in Israel.) In an interview with the AIPAC publication Near East Report , former history professor Gingrich showed that he can also master revisionist history, by responding to a question about the status of Jerusalem by saying, “I have firmly believed through my entire career in Congress that the U.S. should recognize Jerusalem as Israel’s capital—indeed, as its eternal capital…Israel established Jerusalem as its capital when the state was founded 50 years ago. The city was unified in 1967, and all the governmental offices have always been operated from that city. More importantly, it has been the capital of the Jewish people for more than 3,000 years.”

Gingrich brazenly called on Israel to defy the U.S. government.

On May 19, the top congressional leaders of both parties—Gingrich, Lott, Senate Minority Leader Tom Daschle (D-SD), and House Minority Leader Richard Gephardt (D-MO)—fell all over themselves to demonstrate their support for Israel before 2,000 of the faithful at the end of AIPAC’s annual policy conference.

However, Gingrich was clearly the star of the show! He brazenly called upon Israel to defy the U.S. government, saying that Israel’s “right of self-determination has to be defended at all costs, even against the best intention of some of Israel’s friends, including the United States.”

But this was all just by way of warm-up for the main event: the congressional delegation to Israel over the Memorial Day recess to participate in Israel’s “50th anniversary” celebration. (Actually, there were four delegations, one led by Gingrich, one by Gilman, one by Sen. Joseph Lieberman [D-CT], and one hosted by AIPAC. However, the press tended to group them all together, with Gingrich as their leader.) Although reports vary regarding who was on which delegation, and even how many went in all, a list furnished by Americans for Peace Now (APN), an organization of American Jews who understand the obvious truth that Israeli security cannot be achieved without peace, lists 28 senators and representatives: Sens. Joe Biden (D-DE), Frank Lautenberg (D-NJ), Lieberman, Don Nickles (R-OK), and Jack Reed (D-RI), and Reps. Gingrich, Gephardt, Gary Ackerman (D-NY), Roy Blunt (R-MO), John Cooksey (R-LA), Tom Davis (R-VA), Deutsch, Jim Gibbons (R-NV), Gilman, Kay Granger (R-TX), Dennis Hastert (R-IL), Tom Lantos (D-CA), John Linder (R-GA), Robert Livingston (R-LA), Michael McNulty (D-NY), Bob Menendez (D-NJ), Dan Miller (R-FL), Connie Morella (R-MD), Jerrold Nadler (D-NY), Anne Northup (R-KY), Frank Pallone (D-NJ), Mark Souder (R-IN), and Henry Waxman (D-CA).

Actually, Gingrich fired the first shots of his visit before he even arrived. First, on May 20, he announced at a rally on the Capitol steps that he and Gephardt would visit the proposed site of the new U.S. Embassy in Jerusalem and participate in a cornerstone-laying ceremony. (Later, Gephardt’s spokesman denied that, saying, “It’s just supposed to be a press conference.”) Then, the day before his May 23 arrival, the Jerusalem Post published an op-ed piece by Gingrich, in which he repeated that “Israel, and Israel alone, must define the requirements of Israeli security,” and he blamed the Palestinians for freezing the peace process.

Gingrich’s embassy-site plans raised a major firestorm. APN wrote to each of the delegation members urging them not to participate in the ceremony, because it “may be merely ceremonial, but it will clearly destabilize the peace.” Yossi Beilin, a leading member of Israel’s opposition Labor Party, said that he would boycott meetings with Gingrich, because for Gingrich it was just a game, and “I don’t think he is a pro-Israel congressman.” The White House and State Department were furious with Gingrich and, reportedly, National Security Adviser Sandy Berger personally asked Gingrich to cancel his visit to the embassy site. On May 22, Gingrich announced that he and the delegation would not visit the site.

But he wasn’t through causing controversy. Speaking before the Knesset, Israel’s parliament, Gingrich said that “We in Congress…stand with you today in recognizing Jerusalem as the united and eternal capital of Israel,” causing the Arab members of the Knesset to walk out.

Gingrich concluded his visit with an hour-and-a-half meeting with Arafat in Ramallah that both sides described as positive. Gingrich called the meeting “very honest,” and the Palestinians also said the meeting went well. Although Arafat did not participate with Gingrich in a post-meeting news conference, PA Planning Minister Nabil Shaath said, “I think we are creating a dialogue with the American Congress for the first time.”

In fact, there were earlier signs that some Democrats in Congress, mostly in the Senate, saw that, as Beilin said, Gingrich was only staging a “cynical” show for “right-wing American Jews,” and was more interested in attacking Clinton than supporting Israel. In early May, there were reports that the “six senators letter,” signed by Democrats Daschle, Biden, Bob Graham (FL), Lautenberg, Carl Levin (D-MI) and Lieberman, which applauded the administration for its efforts to achieve peace, was sent at the instigation of the White House to counter the effects of the “81 senators letter,” which was described in the May/June issue of the Washington Report. Prior to the Memorial Day recess, Democratic Sens. Dianne Feinstein (CA), Lautenberg, and Paul Wellstone (MN) all took to the floor to express their support for the administration’s efforts to further the peace process, while at the same time emphasizing their own unquestioned pro-Israel credentials. The one lone voice criticizing Israel was that of Sen. Robert Byrd (D-WV), who expressed his support for the administration and questioned the accusations that the U.S. was applying strong-arm tactics on Israel. Byrd said, “If there has been coercion and strong-arming or unreasonable tactics on the matter of negotiations between Israel and the Palestinians over the last year or so…it has not been on the part of the United States. The unfortunate reality, as I view it, is that the Israeli prime minister has pursued a policy of paralysis in the peace process.”

Perhaps the most interesting aspect of this whole spectacle was that the mainstream media, which is normally gleefully eager to criticize Gingrich, was largely silent about his performance in Jerusalem. However, syndicated columnists Thomas L. Friedman in The New York Times and Richard Cohen of The Washington Post, both Jewish but no fans of Netanyahu and surely no fans of Gingrich, were scathingly critical of Gingrich. In The Washington Post on May 28, Cohen said that Gingrich should keep his mouth shut, “especially when abroad.” He accused Gingrich of demonstrating a clear “anti-Palestinian bent” by declaring “Jerusalem to be the now-and-forever capital of Israel when that, as he knows, is a passionate issue yet to be negotiated.” Cohen pointed out, as did the APN in a letter of protest to Gingrich, that a majority of American Jews supports the administration’s approach. Friedman, in The New York Times on June 2, called Gingrich’s performance “pathetic” but typical, because in Gingrich’s opinion “the illusion is widespread that the peace process is just about domestic U.S. politics, and who can mobilize Congress and the Jews the best.”

As Gingrich well knows, a huge majority of Jews also votes for and contributes to the Democratic Party. Does Gingrich really believe that he can convince enough of them to switch their allegiance, and their money, to him, or perhaps to the Republicans?

Shirl McArthur, a retired foreign service officer, is a senior consultant with Bruce Morgan Associates, an international research and consulting firm in the Washington, DC area.

236 Representatives Sign Letter to Clinton Supporting Israel

After circulating in the House for more than a month, a letter to President Clinton criticizing the administration for planning to make public its proposal for further steps to advance the peace process, managed to garner 236 signatures:

Reps. Neil Abercrombie (D-HI), Gary Ackerman (D-NY), Robert Aderholt (R-AL), Robert Andrews (D-NJ), Richard Armey (R-TX), Spencer Bachus (R-AL), Scott Baesler (D-KY), Richard Baker (R-LA), Cass Ballenger (R-NC), Bob Barr (R-GA), Charles Bass (R-NH), Ken Bentsen (D-TX), Howard Berman (D-CA), Brian Bilbray (R-CA), Michael Bilirakis (R-FL), Rod Blagojevich (D-IL), Thomas Bliley (R-VA), Roy Blunt (R-MO), John Boehner (R-OH), Robert Borski (D-PA), Allen Boyd (D-FL), Kevin Brady (R-TX), Corrine Brown (D-FL), Sherrod Brown (D-OH), Jim Bunning (R-KY), Dan Burton (R-IN), Ken Calvert (R-CA), Dave Camp (R-MI), Charles Canady (R-FL), Chris Cannon (R-UT), Ben Cardin (D-MD), Michael Castle (R-DE), Steve Chabot (R-OH), Saxby Chambliss (R-GA), Jon Christensen (R-NE), Bob Clement (D-TN), Howard Coble (R-NC), Tom Coburn (R-OK), Mac Collins (R-GA), Merrill Cook (R-UT), John Cooksey (R-LA), Jerry Costello (D-IL), Chris Cox (R-CA), William Coyne (D-PA), Bud Cramer (D-AL), Michael Crapo (R-ID), Barbara Cubin (R-WY), Randy Cunningham (R-CA), Jim Davis (D-FL), Tom Davis (R-VA), Nathan Deal (R-GA), Peter DeFazio (D-OR), Rosa DeLauro (D-CT), Tom DeLay (R-TX), Peter Deutsch (D-FL), Norman Dicks (D-WA), John Doolittle (R-CA), David Dreier (R-CA), Jennifer Dunn (R-WA), Robert Ehrlich (R-MD), Eliot Engel (D-NY), Phil English (R-PA), John Ensign (R-NV), Thomas Ewing (R-IL), Bob Filner (D-CA), Vic Fazio (D-CA), Mark Foley (R-FL), Michael Forbes (R-NY), Harold Ford, Jr. (D-TN), Vito Fossella (R-NY), Tillie Fowler (R-FL), Jon Fox (R-PA), Bob Franks (R-NJ), Rodney Frelinghuysen (R-NJ), Martin Frost (D-TX), Greg Ganske (R-IA), Dick Gephardt (D-MO), Jim Gibbons (R-NV), Ben Gilman (R-NY), Newt Gingrich (R-GA), Bill Goodling (R-PA), Bart Gordon (D-TN), Lindsay Graham (R-SC), Kay Granger (R-TX), Gene Green (D-TX), Jim Greenwood (R-PA), Luis Gutierrez (D-IL), Gil Gutknecht (R-MN), Jane Harman (D-CA), Dennis Hastert (R-IL), Alcee Hastings (D-FL), Doc Hastings (R-WA), J.D. Hayworth (R-AZ), Maurice Hinchey (D-NY), David Hobson (R-OH), Tim Holden (D-PA), Steve Horn (R-CA), Steny Hoyer (D-MD), Asa Hutchinson (R-AR), Henry Hyde (R-IL), Bob Inglis (R-SC), Sheila Jackson-Lee (D-TX), Nancy Johnson (R-CT), Walter Jones (R-NC), John Kasich (R-OH), Sue Kelly (R-NY), Patrick Kennedy (D-RI), Barbara Kennelly (D-CT), Ron Kind (D-WI), Jack Kingston (R-GA), Gerald Kleczka (D-WI), Ron Klink (D-PA), Scott Klug (R-WI), John LaFalce (D-NY), Ray LaHood (R-IL), Nick Lampson (D-TX), Steve Largent (R-OK), Tom Latham (R-IA), Steve LaTourette (R-OH), Rick Lazio (R-NY), Jim Leach (R-IA), John Lewis (D-GA), Ron Lewis (R-KY), John Linder (R-GA), William Lipinski (D-IL), Frank LoBiondo (R-NJ), Nita Lowey (D-NY), Frank Lucas (R-OK), Carolyn Maloney (D-NY), Jim Maloney (D-CT), Thomas Manton (D-NY), Don Manzullo (R-IL), Bob Matsui (D-CA), Carolyn McCarthy (D-NY), Jim McCrery (R-LA), Bill McCollum (R-FL), Joseph McDade (R-PA), Jim McGovern (D-MA), Paul McHale (D-PA), Scott McInnis (R-CO), David McIntosh (R-IN), Buck McKeon (R-CA), Michael McNulty (D-NY), Martin Meehan (D-MA), Greg Meeks (D-NY), Bob Menendez (D-NJ), Jack Metcalf (R-WA), Dan Miller (R-FL), Connie Morella (R-MD), Sue Myrick (R-NC), Jerrold Nadler (D-NY), Richard Neal (D-MA), George Nethercutt (R-WA), Mark Neumann (R-WI), Anne Northup (R-KY), Eleanor Holmes Norton (D-DC), Jim Nussle (R-IA), Major Owens (D-NY), Frank Pallone (D-NJ), Mike Pappas (R-NJ), Mike Parker (R-MS), Bill Pascrell (D-NJ)), Ed Pastor (D-AZ), Bill Paxon (R-NY), Joseph Pitts (R-PA), Richard Pombo (R-CA), John Porter (R-IL), Glenn Poshard (D-IL), Deborah Pryce (R-OH), Jim Ramstad (R-MN), Charlie Rangel (D-NY), Silvestre Reyes (D-TX), Frank Riggs (R-CA), Bob Riley (R-AL), Ciro Rodriguez (D-TX), Tim Roemer (D-IN), Ileana Ros-Lehtinen (R-FL), Steve Rothman (D-NJ), Lucille Roybal-Allard (D-CA), Ed Royce (R-CA), Bobby Rush (D-IL), Jim Ryun (R-KS), Martin Sabo (D-MN), Matt Salmon (R-AZ), Loretta Sanchez (D-CA), Max Sandlin (D-TX), Jim Saxton (R-NJ), Charles Schumer (D-NY), Jose Serrano (D-NY), Pete Sessions (R-TX), John Shadegg (R-AZ), Clay Shaw (R-FL), Christopher Shays (R-CT), Brad Sherman (D-CA), John Shimkus (R-IL), Norman Sisisky (D-VA), Joe Skeen (R-NM), Ike Skelton (D-MO), Louise Slaughter (D-NY), Adam Smith (D-WA), Chris Smith (R-NJ), Lamar Smith (R-TX), Linda Smith (R-WA), Vince Snowbarger (R-KS), Gerald Solomon (R-NY), Mark Souder (R-IN), Debbie Stabenow (D-MI), Cliff Stearns (R-FL), Ted Strickland (D-OH), Bart Stupak (D-MI), James Talent (R-MO), John Tanner (D-TN), Ellen Tauscher (D-CA), W.J. Tauzin (R-LA), John Thune (R-SD), Bill Thomas (R-CA), Karen Thurman (D-FL), Todd Tiahrt (R-KS), Esteban Torres (D-CA), Ed Towns (D-NY), Jim Turner (D-TX), Nydia Velasquez (D-NY), Peter Visclosky (D-IN), Zach Wamp (R-TN), J.C. Watts (R-OK), Curt Weldon (R-PA), Dave Weldon (R-FL), Jerry Weller (R-IL), Robert Wexler (D-FL), Robert Weygand (D-RI), Rick White (R-WA), Roger Wicker (R-MS), Frank Wolf (R-VA), Lynn Woolsey (D-CA), Al Wynn (D-MD), and Sidney Yates (D-IL).