A friend sent me a transcript of Ass’t Secretary of State for Political-Military Affairs Andrew Shapiro’s comments on the US-Israel relationship to Brookings yesterday. I can’t find the transcript online. Oh here it is! (Thanks to my pal). Shapiro lays it on real thick, and threw in some good stretchers. And no wonder, he was at the Saban Center, and Israeli-American Haim Saban gives more to Democratic political candidates than just about anyone.
The unique relationship between the United States and Israel is rooted in common values, interwoven cultures, and mutual interests. U.S. support for the idea of a Jewish homeland dates back to John Adams and John Quincy Adams, and can be traced through the letters of Abraham Lincoln, Woodrow Wilson, and Franklin Roosevelt. Indeed, when Israel was founded in 1948, the United States was ready to embrace its new partner. President Truman famously extended official, diplomatic recognition to the State of Israel in just 11 minutes….
America’s commitment to Israel’s security and prosperity has extended over many decades and across Democratic and Republican Administrations alike. Our leaders have long understood that a robust United States-Israel security relationship is good for us, good for Israel and good for regional stability….
We are fully committed to Israel’s security because it enhances our own national security and because it helps Israel to take the steps necessary for peace.
I don’t know the facts here, have to reread Michael Oren’s (shallow) book, which I bet Shapiro was glossing. I would note that in the 1940s, virtually the entire State Department warned that Partition violated Wilson’s principle of "self-determination," a principle that Palestinians still cling to.
