On Tour, McCain Shows Off His Credentials

Source: http://www.jewishexponent.com/article/15785/

April 03, 2008

Sen. John McCain greets an American well-wisher as he arrives at Yad Vashem in Jerusalem on March 18.

Jerusalem

Wearing a white kipah, U.S. Sen. John McCain stood at the Western Wall, tucked a note inside one of its crevices and pressed his hand on the ancient stone, striking an image meant to speak to American Jewish voters across the sea that he is indeed their man.

McCain, the Arizona senator who is the presumptive Republican presidential nominee, spoke March 19 of his "deep and abiding commitment to Israel" -- a theme he stressed throughout his meetings last month with Israeli leaders.

Sounding a note of commonality and understanding with his Israeli hosts, McCain said that Iran, Hamas and Hezbollah were threats not only to Israel, but to America as well.

"Iran is funding, training and aiding extremist groups," McCain told Israeli President Shimon Peres. "My concern over this issue has increased following my current tour of the Middle East."

McCain also said that it would be difficult for Israel to talk to Hamas about a cease-fire in Gaza.

Although billed as a congressional fact-finding mission with fellow Sens. Joseph Lieberman (I-Conn.) and Lindsey Graham (R-S.C.), both major McCain supporters, McCain's visit to Israel felt more like a campaign stop.

In Israel, McCain made clear that like Bush and Olmert, he is sticking to the strategy that Palestinian Authority President Mahmoud Abbas should be cultivated as a peace partner.

On his visit, McCain saw the toll that Palestinian rocket fire from the Gaza Strip has taken on the southern Israeli city of Sederot. He toured a house that was badly damaged by a rocket, and was shown a pile of singed and mangled Kassam rockets collected by Sederot police.

"That is not a way for people to live," he said. "No nation in the world can be attacked incessantly and have its population killed and intimidated without responding. That's one of the first obligations of government, to provide security for its citizens."

The senator said that if rockets were to hit his home state of Arizona, residents would certainly demand a harsh response.

He added that the violence "brings more into focus the absolute requirement to pursue the peace process."

Lieberman served on the trip as something of a cultural guide for McCain. The Connecticut lawmaker provided McCain the kipah he wore at the Western Wall and the Yad Vashem Holocaust memorial in Jerusalem, and explained the holiday of Purim when they were met by children in costumes.

Perhaps the most raucous part of McCain's trip came when he departed the Western Wall, and was swarmed by photographers, tourists and well-wishers.

As photographers and cameramen surged to get closer to McCain, they were pushed back by Israeli border policemen. Several fistfights ensued.

The scene at the holiest site in Judaism may have offered McCain a glimpse of the rough-and-tumble energy in the region, which offered a stark contrast to the series of warm but sedate rounds of visits he held with Israeli officialdom.