A group of Jewish and Christian leaders joined together today with former Senator and U.S. presidential candidate Rick Santorum to call on members of the United States Senate to vote to stop the confirmation of Chuck Hagel to be Secretary of Defense. I was honored to be part of this group.
While we share different views on a range of other subjects, on this issue we are united. We believe Mr. Hagel is a terrible choice. He does not truly understand the critical issues in Iran, Syria, and the rest of the Middle East. He doesn’t not truly understand or appreciate the importance of a strong and healthy U.S.-Israel alliance. He has neither the experience nor the wisdom for this job, and he would send the exact wrong signal to the mullahs in Tehran.
Thus, we sent a letter to Senate Majority Leader Harry Reid and the rest of the Members expressing our concerns and asking them to do everything in their power to stop Mr. Hagel’s confirmation. The text of the letter follows.
I’m deeply concerned about the President not having a strong, principled policy to stop Iran from getting nuclear weapons. Nor do I believe he has the right approach to prevent Iran, Syria and Hezbollah from seeking to annihilate Israel. That’s why I wrote this new novel, Damascus Countdown, which releases next week, to help people see what could happen when Washington misunderstands the nature and threat of evil. But it’s not enough just to write fictional accounts of worst case scenarios that may be coming our way. We need to take action when we can, and this is one of those moments.
A cloture vote ending debate on the Hagel nomination could come as early as noon eastern today. Please call your Senators immediately to express your opposition to Mr. Hagel. The Senate switchboard number is 202-224-3121.
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Senator Harry Reid
522 Hart Senate Office Building
Washington, DC 20515
Dear Senator Reid:
We write to urge you to oppose Chuck Hagel’s nomination to become the next Secretary of Defense. The evidence that has accumulated in recent weeks makes one thing clear: Notwithstanding assurances he has made privately to your colleague, Sen. Chuck Schumer, in the course of his confirmation hearing and in other settings, Sen. Hagel’s longstanding hostility towards Jews and Israel is reprehensible and should disqualify him from this sensitive post.
That is especially true at the present moment. As you are well aware, the next few years may be among the most turbulent in the history of U.S.-Israeli relations. This is the case thanks to the developing perfect storm of: continuing and intensifying violence perpetrated by al Qaeda and other jihadists throughout the Middle East and adjacent regions; the ascendancy there and elsewhere of a Muslim Brotherhood equally committed to Israel’s destruction; and an Iranian regime that explicitly and repeatedly declares its intention to wipe Israel off the map nearing the realization of its nuclear weapon ambitions.
Particularly under such circumstances, the myriad examples of former Senator Hagel’s hostility towards Jews and the Jewish State cannot be dismissed on the basis of disavowals or apologies that clearly have much more to do with the needs of his imperiled confirmation than with a change of heart. Consider just a few of the cases in point:
- Sen. Hagel’s long-held notions about the “Jewish lobby” intimidating Senators.
- His moral equivalence between Israel and those bent on its destruction.
- His view that Israel’s putative nuclear arsenal is more worrying than an Iranian one.
- His claim that the State Department is an “adjunct to the Israeli Foreign Ministers’ office.”
- His contention that Israel is becoming “an apartheid state.” And
- His co-authorship of a report that recommends inserting U.S. forces on the West Bank to facilitate the establishment of a Palestinian state there. Such a step would inevitably embroil us in that conflict – probably, in due course, with the effect of protecting Palestinian terrorists against Israeli defensive measures.
All these bespeak a deep-seated animus that will surely dangerously influence Senator Hagel’s conduct should he become Defense Secretary.
No true friend of the Jewish people and Israel can support that outcome. We call upon you to preclude it from happening.
Sincerely,
- Hon. Rick Santorum, Co-Founder, Patriot Voices
- Pastor John C. Hagee, Founder and National Chairman of Christians United for Israel
- Mort Klein, President, Zionist Organization of America
- Rev. Rick Joyner, President, The Oak Initiative
- Beth Gilinsky, President, National Conference on Jewish Affairs
- Lieutenant General William G. Boykin, Ordained Minister, Kingdom Warriors
- Rabbi Jon Hausman, Policy Committee Member, National Conference on Jewish Affairs
- Sarah Stern, President, Endowment for Middle East Truth
- Joel Rosenberg, New York Times Best-selling Author
- Nicholas F. Papanicalaou, Chief Executive Officer, Knights of Saint John of Jerusalem
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