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Senator Hagel: ‘The Jewish Lobby Intimidates a Lot of People Up Here’

Aaron David Miller was a negotiator for Bill Clinton at Camp David. Now he’s coming out with a book on the peace process called The Much Too Promised Land. The website suggests that the book will contain an open discussion of the "pro-Israeli lobby and those who are lobbied." And on the website is an excerpt of an interview with Nebraska Senator Chuck Hagel, among others.

Says Hagel: "The political reality is that… the Jewish lobby intimidates a lot of people up here." Hagel then related a meeting he had in New York with a group of supporters of Israel who are pushing the U.S. to attack Iran. When Hagel said it hadn’t worked out that well in Iraq, a couple of members of the group said he wasn’t supportive enough of Israel. Hagel spoke firmly: "Let me clear something up here if there’s any doubt in your mind. I’m a U.S. Senator. I’m not an Israeli senator. I’m a U.S. Senator. I support Israel… But my first interest is, I take an oath to the constitution of the United States. Not to a president, not to a party, not to Israel." Gee.

More to come from Miller’s website. Will anyone do journalism about this?

Oh, and let’s be clear about something. Talk of the lobby is breaking out all over now, praise Allah. But Aaron Miller and Random House have the running room to publish frank descriptions of "the Jewish lobby"–and to bring up the the issue of dual loyalty–for one g-dd-mn reason. Because Steve Walt and John Mearsheimer exhibited incredible intellectual and professional courage and published their paper and book on the Israel lobby. They have been smeared again and again in the last two years. Kill the messenger…

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