CENTER APPLAUDS Z.O.A. CRITIQUE OF TALBOTT’S LONG RECORD OF ANTI-ISRAEL WRITINGS

(Washington, D.C.): If anyone had
lingering doubts about whether Strobe
Talbott’s judgment was sufficiently
flawed to disqualify him for the second
highest job in the State Department, they
should be dispelled by a searing analysis
issued today. Not only is Talbott
seemingly incapable of correctly
comprehending reality in his nominal area
of expertise (i.e., Russia —
and the Soviet Union before it); he
has done no better when it comes to
understanding the Middle East.

This is the inescapable conclusion to
be drawn from a careful analysis of
Talbott’s writings concerning Israel, its
security situation and U.S.-Israeli
relations that have appeared in Time
Magazine from 1981-1991. At a
Washington press conference today, Rep.
James Saxton (R-NJ) and the new National
President of the Zionist Organization of
America, Morton A. Klein, announced that
— on the basis of such an analysis which
has been prepared under the auspices of
Mr. Klein’s organization — President
Clinton should withdraw Talbott’s
nomination.

Among the deeply troubling Talbott
quotes brought to light by the Z.O.A. are
the following (emphasis added):

• “If Israel continues
  to take international law into
  its own hands as violently — and
  as embarrassingly to the U.S. —
  as it did in Baghdad and Beirut,
  then the next display of U.S.
  displeasure ought to be more
  sustained and less symbolic.
  It might include selective
  cutbacks in American military
  aid….” (“What To Do
  About Israel,” Time,
  7 September 1981)
• Talbott expressed concern that
  Israeli complaints about
  “the bellicosity and
  treacherousness of its radical
  neighbors,” which is
  “one reason for the
  Arab-Israeli conflict,” were
  “obscuring another [reason
  for the Arab-Israeli conflict] —
  Israeli intransigence and
  expansionism.”
  (“America Abroad: The
  Dangers of Demonization,” Time,
  20 August 1990)
• According to Talbott, the Israeli
  policy of permitting Jews to live
  in Judea and Samaria was
  “war by other means,”
  and was comparable to
  Saddam Hussein’s “systematic
  obliteration of Kuwaiti
  nationhood…therefore
  [Israel’s control of these areas]
  does indeed have something in
  common with Iraq’s [occupation of
  Kuwait].” (“America
  Abroad: How Israel Is
  Like Iraq,” Time,
  29 October 1990)
• In Talbott’s view, “Israeli
  stubbornness is not the only
  obstacle to the pursuit of peace,
  but it is certainly a major one.”
  (“What To Do About
  Israel”)

Interestingly, another leading Jewish
organization, the American-Israel
Public Affairs Committee
(AIPAC), has long understood the gravity
of Talbott’s anti-Israel bias. In its
prestigious publication, Near East
Report, AIPAC wrote in 1981:

“Talbott reveals a
superficial grasp of Middle East
realities, an ignorance of the
history for the Arab-Israeli conflict
and a shallow comprehension of
American national interests.“
It characterized Talbott’s
recommendations in “What To Do
About Israel” as “a
prescription for America’s
abandonment of Israel.”

The Center for Security Policy
strongly urges every member of the U.S.
Senate to review Strobe Talbott’s
writings on the Middle East and other
topics of critical importance to U.S.
security and international interests
prior to considering his nomination to
become Deputy Secretary of State. If they
do so, the Center feels confident
that the Senate will agree that this
nomination should be withdrawn forthwith,
and defeated if it is not.

(Copies of the Z.O.A.’s powerful
eight-page analysis can be obtained by
calling 212-481-1500).