Clinton Angles for the Pro-Israel Vote, Declares Need to Bring US-Israel Ties Back to ‘Constructive’ Footing
By Lazar Berman. As the relationship between US President Barack Obama and Prime Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu becomes even more frayed, prospective Democratic presidential candidate Hillary Clinton appeared to emphasize that her approach to Israel would be different than that of the current administration.
In a telephone conversation Sunday with Malcolm Hoenlein, Executive Vice Chairman of Conference of Presidents of Major American Jewish Organizations, Clinton said that “we need to all work together to return the special US-Israel relationship to constructive footing, to get back to basic shared concerns and interests.”
“We must ensure that Israel never becomes a partisan issue,” she added.
Clinton also called for “a two-state solution pursued through direct negotiations between Israelis and Palestinians.”
Hoenlein initiated the conversation, according to the Conference of Presidents. (Read more from “Clinton: Bring US-Israel Ties Back to ‘Constructive’ Footing” HERE)
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Obama-Netanyahu Feud a Problem for Hillary and Dems
By Fredric U. Dicker. A top GOP strategist and pollster for newly re-elected Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu is warning that New York Democrats, including Hillary Rodham Clinton, “will pay a heavy price” at the polls next year if they don’t break with President Obama’s policies on Israel and reject any deal he makes with Iran.
“Hillary Clinton, [Sen.] Chuck Schumer, [Reps.] Nita Lowey, Steve Israel, Jerry Nadler, Eliot Engel and others are about to get a whole new wave of pressure from Republicans on whether they agree or not with Obama on Israel,’’ New York-based national GOP pollster and strategist John McLaughlin told The Post.
“You’re going to have Republicans running for president, the Senate, for Congress next year supporting Israel and pledging to abrogate any deal Obama makes with Iran and challenging the Democrats to do the same,’’ said McLaughlin, who runs McLaughlin and Associates with his brother.
McLaughlin, who was with Netanyahu at the Israeli leader’s Jerusalem home the night of his victory earlier this month, said the GOP push would be especially powerful in heavily Jewish voting areas in the city, Westchester and Long Island.
“A lot of New York Democrats are going to have to decide if they back Israel, our strongest ally in the world, or a White House that has made a mess of the Middle East and threatens to do to Israel what they’ve just done to Yemen,’’ contended McLaughlin. (Read more from this story HERE)
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