In his first
his interview after being nominated as the next U.S. secretary of defense, Chuck
Hagel told his hometown paper, the Lincoln Journal Star in Nebraska that he will
show an “unequivocal, total support for Israel.”
Former Nebraska
senator’s pledge to totally support Israel comes as pro-Israeli U.S. lawmakers
criticized him for not joining most of his Senate colleagues in signing on to a
number of policy pronouncements that sometimes were sought by the American
Israel Public Affairs Committee (AIPAC).
Hagel dismissed
the criticisms raised against him and maintained that there is "not one shred of
evidence that I'm anti-Israeli, not one (Senate) vote that matters that hurt
Israel."
At some point on
Monday, President Obama announced his nomination of former GOP Nebraska Senator
Chuck Hagel for his next Secretary of Defense. Antiwar Several groups
and political leaders said Monday they would not formally oppose the choice,
though some admitted to being lukewarm. Among them, the American Israel Public
Affairs Committee (AIPAC), the Anti-Defamation League, and former Rep. Barney
Frank (D-Mass.), who earlier said he opposed the choice. The Back
Channel Speaking on CNN’s “State of the Union,”
Sen. Lindsey Graham of South Carolina predicted that Hagel would be “the most
antagonistic secretary of Defense” toward Israel in the U.S. history and called
his pick by President Obama an “in-your-face nomination.” LA
Times In the Senate,
Hagel initially voted to give the George W. Bush administration authority to go
to war in Afghanistan and Iraq, but later harshly criticized the conduct of both
wars, irritating fellow Republicans and making him popular with Democrats
critical of those wars. LA Times Hagel also
rankled many with comments he made in a 2006 interview with former State
Department Mideast peace negotiator Aaron David Miller in which he said that the
“Jewish lobby intimidates a lot of people" in Congress, in a reference to AIPAC
and other pro-Israel groups. LA Times Hagel drew
particular fire for a quote from his 2008 book, wherein he said, "I'm not an
Israeli senator. I'm a United States senator." He added, "I support Israel, but
my first interest is I take an oath of office to the Constitution of the United
States, not to a president, not to a party, not to Israel. If I go run for
Senate in Israel, I’ll do that." The Huffington Post However, in his
first interview as President Barack Obama's designated choice to be secretary of
defense, the former Nebraska senator said critics have "completely distorted"
his record. Journal Star
ISH/HJ
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