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Farewell. Bush
Photo: Reuters
The hopefuls. Clinton, Obama
Photo: Reuters

Israelis look ahead to post-Bush White House

While it appears that among Israeli citizens Clinton has the upper hand, many Israelis feel that Bush's pro-Israel shoes are too big for any candidate to fill

Israelis about to lose one of their best friends in the White House are taking a close look at the leading candidates to replace him.

 

US President George W. Bush's successor will face the challenge of either moving ahead in the Israeli-Palestinian peace process or picking up the pieces of the former's second-term effort to reach a statehood deal this year.

 

Israelis will get an opportunity to hear what one presidential hopeful, the expected Republican nominee Senator John McCain, has to say on their home turf on Tuesday.

 

Israeli media speculated that Democrats Hillary Clinton and Barack Obama would also visit Israel in the coming weeks.

 

The US Election in November will bring to an end the term of a president many in Israel regard as one of its strongest supporters, a leader whose "axis of evil" philosophy struck the right note in a country that has never known peace.

 

Igal Elias, a 38-year-old software developer, said he hoped McCain, whose background as a fighter pilot and prisoner of war during the Vietnam conflict is widely respected in Israel, would follow in Bush's footsteps.

 

"I think Bush gave us a sense of security during very difficult times. On the Iraqi issue he turned out to be wrong, but under the circumstances I think he was the best man for the job and was good for Israel," Elias said.

 

For him, it is McCain's willingness to keep US Forces in Iraq that makes him more likely to take a tough stance against Israel's arch-foe Iran and its nuclear ambitions – much more than any Democratic candidate would.

 

"I think a Democratic president will have a much more difficult time acting against Iran. Because both Hillary Clinton and Barack Obama talk about pulling out of Iraq, it will be more difficult for them to change their position should something severe happen," he said.

 

Obama - strong enough? 

A Democratic primary held among US Citizens living in Israel in February gave Hillary Clinton a clear majority over Obama, an unknown quantity to Israelis.

 

Elias said that what scares him most about Obama, a senator from Illinois, is the possibility that as president he will come to the Middle East and try to approach the issue with a 'clean slate', showing his inexperience.

 

"The strong leaders of other nations will eat him for breakfast," Elias said.

 

The possibility the United States will for the first time have an African-American or a woman as president has intrigued Israelis and the presidential race has been covered closely by the local media.

 

As a matter of policy, Israeli officials do not comment on internal US politics other than to say they believe Washington's strong commitment to Israel's security will not change, regardless of who is in the White House.

 

"When Israeli officials say they have no position on the American election and they are not backing any candidate they are completely sincere," said Barry Rubin, director of the GLORIA Centre for Research and International Affairs in Israel.

 

But Rubin says that despite what many Israelis think, the special US-Israeli relationship is not as important to US policymakers as the greater Middle East.

 


פרסום ראשון: 03.18.08, 18:31
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