Washington — Some people just can’t wait to launch political attacks.
On Jan. 22, the National Jewish Democratic Council put out a press release calling on newly inaugurated President George W. Bush to move the U.S. embassy in Israel from Tel Aviv to Jerusalem.
NJDC executive director Ira Forman wrote: “Well Mr. President, you were sworn in on Saturday, and we’ll gladly give you Sunday off. But today is Monday, and it is time for you to get about the business of upholding your pledge to move the U.S. embassy in Israel.”
Bush’s White House staff didn’t even have working telephones. There was no confirmed Secretary of State to implement a presidential decision about the embassy. But the NJDC was right there, attacking the new administration and asking why nothing had been done yet.
The organization might have served the Jewish community better by asking that question during the five previous years, when President Clinton repeatedly used his waiver power to prevent any action toward moving the U.S. embassy to Jerusalem.
Let’s review some history. In October 1995, led by Republicans Bob Dole in the Senate and Newt Gingrich in the House, Congress overwhelmingly passed the Jerusalem Embassy Act of 1995, which mandated moving the embassy to Jerusalem by May 1999.
President Clinton allowed that legislation to become law without signing it. He then prevented its implementation by repeatedly using the waiver provided in the law, a waiver he was to use only if it was “necessary to protect the national security interests of the United States,” in the law’s words.
President Clinton not only prevented the will of the people, as expressed by Congress, from being done. He also damaged the U.S.-Israel alliance through a policy that insisted that Jerusalem must be on the negotiating table and that frequently downplayed Jerusalem’s importance to Israel.
Where were they then?
This policy strengthened the Palestinians’ expectation that they would eventually get all or part of the city. Those heightened expectations are in part responsible for the outbreak of violence that spread outward from the Al-Aqsa mosque in Jerusalem last September, after Clinton’s ill-fated final Camp David summit between previous Prime Minister Ehud Barak and Palestinian Authority President Yasser Arafat.
Where were the Jewish Democrats then, when Clinton refused to move the embassy? At the time that they had influence, access and power, they were silent.
There was not one public call on the part of Jewish Democrats for the embassy move. In fact, Jewish Democrats frequently argued on the campaign trail that moving the embassy was “not a priority for the Jewish community” and would be disruptive of the peace process. And now the NJDC has the chutzpah to make demands of Bush?
Clearly, certain things had to happen before the embassy move could take place. Last November, we had an election here. That took care of the impediment at the top.
Shortly afterward, Colin Powell was nominated Secretary of State. That took care of the impediment there.
Meanwhile, in Israel, Ariel Sharon won a landslide victory over Barak on Feb. 6. On March 7, Sharon was inaugurated and announced his Cabinet. Two weeks later, Sharon arrived in Washington for his first official meeting with President Bush as prime minister.
At this point, everything has changed: a new president, a new prime minister, new governments in both countries, new policies in both countries. Now the stage is set.
And while Democrats may be hoping that Bush will renege on his promise to move the embassy, he won’t. This is the Bush administration, after all, not the Clinton administration. When George W. Bush gives his word, he keeps it.
All along, Bush has consistently said that he would move the U.S. embassy to Jerusalem. Powell has said several times in the last few weeks, including during a recent meeting with the Conference of Presidents of Major Jewish Organizations, that the administration will follow through on this commitment. He has told the press, the Jewish community and the House of Representatives that the embassy will be moved.
We are confident that Bush will move forward on this issue with a thoughtful policy based on his core values and his strong support for Israel. Bush has reiterated time and again, in public and in private, his concern and support for Israel’s security, his commitment to a secure peace for Israel and his commitment to the unified city of Jerusalem as Israel’s capital.
After all these years of making excuses for President Clinton’s failure to move the embassy, the Jewish Democrats should just have a little patience with a president who, for a change, keeps his promises.
Matthew Brooks is executive director of the Republican Jewish Coalition.
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