A pro-Israeli site reported�The Atlantic Council, a think tank chaired by defense secretary nominee Chuck Hagel which last month published a column titled �Israel�s Apartheid Policy,� during the same month predicted that Iran �should be viewed as a potential natural partner� for the U.S.
The Washington Free Beacon reported that the think tank�s December policy paper titled �Envisioning 2030: U.S. Strategy for a Post-Western World,� which was not written by Hagel himself, predicted the following of an Iranian regime that continues to forge ahead with its nuclear program and bankroll both Hamas and Hezbollah terrorism: �A post-mullah dominated government shedding Shia [Muslim] ideology could easily return to being a net contributor to stability by 2030.�

The Republican Jewish Coalition (RJC) has called President Barack Obama�s Hagel�s nomination of Hagel �a blow to U.S.-Israel relations, to the President�s relationship with the American Jewish community, and to U.S. security in the Middle East.�

Glenn Kessler, author of the Washington Post�s �Fact Checker� column, noted that Hagel told the Associated Press after his 1998 Middle East visit that the Israeli government �essentially continues to play games.� Commenting on Palestinian terrorism, the former Nebraska senator said �Desperate men do desperate things when you take hope away.�

Additionally, in 2002, Hagel told CNN regarding Yasser Arafat that he would not �single out the Palestinians and Arafat as the real problem� in the Israeli-Palestinian conflict because �it doesn�t help when we take public sides on this and castigate and assign all of the responsibility and all the blame to one side.�

By Cleveland Jewish News

 

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