A prominent Clinton advisor and diplomat, stating flatly that President Obama has poisoned U.S.-Israeli relations, urged Hillary Rodham Clinton to move fast to embrace the Jewish State and even demand each side “lower the temperature,” according to one of the latest John Podesta emails released by WikiLeaks.
“She needs to make a statement sooner rather than later, as things are spiraling out of control,” warned Stuart Eizenstat, a former Carter and Clinton administration official, former Ambassador to the European Union and close Israel ally.
His email to Clinton campaign foreign policy advisor Jake Sullivan was a damning indictment of Obama’s handling of relations with Israel and strident Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu.
“Dear Jake,” he wrote in March 2015. “The Obama White House-Bibi relationship is obviously deteriorating to the point of no return. It is more poisonous than US-Israeli relationship in my lifetime,” he added.
Now with the influential Washington firm Covington & Burling, Eizenstat ripped elements of the Obama approaches to Israel, even his refusal to cite “radical Islamic terrorists.”
In one of his multiple recommendations for Clinton Israel policy, he wrote, “She should express grave concern for the increase in anti-Semitism in Europe and violent attacks by radical Islamic terrorists (Obama refuses to use this term; she will need to decide what language to use and then stick with it) against Jews in Europe (Paris, Toulouse, Malmo) which conflate their hatred of Israel with Jews in their country.”
When he worked in the Clinton administration, Eizenstat worked closely on the Middle East Peace talks and won respect for his knowledge and understanding of both sides, Israel and Palestine.
He noted that breaking with Obama policy on Israel in a presidential campaign could be difficult for Clinton, but clearly he saw it as needed. He wrote:
“This obviously places Hillary in an extremely difficult position, caught between the President she served and the organized parts of the Jewish community, I have talked several times recently, including yesterday afternoon, with Malcolm Honlein, president of the Conference of Presidents of Major Jewish Organizations. They have refrained from directly criticizing the President, but he told me that he and most of his organizations are extraordinarily concerned about the situation, and highly desirous of Hillary making some statement to calm the turbulent waters. At the same time, more liberal Jews are incensed at Bibi. However, as the NYT reports today, the vehemence of the President’s reaction, even to Bibi’s ‘peace offering’, is turning the tide in Israel in the Prime Minister’s favor, and may do so here, as well.’
See the full note and Eizenstat’s recommendations here.
Paul Bedard, the Washington Examiner’s “Washington Secrets” columnist, can be contacted at [email protected]
