Questions I yearn to hear asked of candidates for president

1. As we know, Israel, the only democracy in the Middle East, has a structural feature that privileges one ethnicity. My question is, “Should the United States emulate our great ally by adopting that particular feature and, if so, which ethnicity should be privileged over all others?”

2. A U.S. intelligence ship in international waters, virtually unarmed, is attacked by an “ally,” from the air by rockets and napalm and by sea with torpedoes. Thirty-four Americans are killed. Unlike the Benghazi incident involving four American deaths, the 1967 attack on the USS Liberty has never been investigated by Congress despite pleas from survivors for more than 40 years. My question is, “Would you favor a Congressional investigation in light of information that has come to light confirming that (1) the attacking Israeli pilots realized the ship was American, but were instructed to proceed, and (2) the Navy’s investigation was fixed to hide the truth by orders from the highest levels of the Lyndon Johnson administration?”

3. The President of the United States alone can decide if and when to push the button that initiates a nuclear conflagration. There are many Christian Zionists for whom the reconstitution of ancient Israel in today’s world is requisite for the “end times,” during which the “saved” will be “raptured up” to heaven while those left behind are consumed in an Armageddon of nuclear fire and conflict. My question is, “Do you identify with Christian Zionist beliefs and, if so, do Americans who are not ‘saved’ have reason to fear your proximity to the Red Button as President should Israel become existentially embattled?”

4. After Palestinian elections called “free and fair” by international observers, the U.S. armed and trained the losing faction and goaded it into a brief civil war, in which it was militarily defeated. Israel imposed a land and sea blockade on the winning faction, rationing food and other essentials for the past eight years. My question is, “After this year’s Presidential elections, should the winning party inflict similar sanctions, the Democrats, for example, following victory by arming the ‘blue’ states and blockading the ‘red’ ones?”

5. One U.S. administration after another has been critical of Israel’s inserting Jewish settlers beyond Israel proper. Yet Israel, with an economy on a par with that of Spain, has for decades been the largest single recipient of U.S. assistance, currently at the rate of some $10-million a day. “As President, would you demand Israel’s acquiescence to our position on settlements as a condition for further aid?”