[Peace-discuss] WSJ: Hagel fight all about Schumer, Gillibrand, and New York Jews

[Robert Naiman]

This isn't the first article like this. This suggests that the fight is
substantially coming down to New York and who speaks for Jews in New York
on these issues: the Jewish Right, or the Jewish liberal/left? I wonder to
what degree the Jewish left in New York will intervene to help defeat the
Jewish right, and what degree they will sit on their hands and watch the
Jewish Right defeat the Jewish liberals and say it doesn't matter. The
latter dynamics have certainly happened before.

Updated January 11, 2013, 7:48 p.m. ET
  Democrat's Stance Key to Hagel's FateBy ANDREW
GROSSMAN<http://online.wsj.com/search/term.html?KEYWORDS=ANDREW+GROSSMAN&bylinesearch=true>

WASHINGTON—Chuck Hagel's uncertain path to the position of defense
secretary is turning in large measure on the stance of one senator, New
York's Chuck Schumer, whose opinion is likely to influence a group of
fellow Democrats who, like him, have remained uncommitted.

<http://online.wsj.com/article/SB10001424127887324442304578236103215425668.html?mod=WSJ_hps_MIDDLENexttoWhatsNewsThird#>

The approval of Sen. Chuck Schumer will likely be crucial to the
confirmation hopes of Chuck Hagel, the president's nominee for defense
secretary. Andrew Grossman joins The News Hub to look at the Democratic
response to Hagel's nomination. Photo: Getty Images.

Mr. Hagel, a Republican and a former senator, faces opposition from many in
his own party who see him as insufficiently supportive of Israel and too
skeptical of using military force to prevent Iran from obtaining nuclear
capabilities.

That puts more pressure on Democrats, who control the chamber, to deliver
their president his nominee. But a group of Democratic senators remains
publicly uncommitted amid some of the same concerns on Israel and Iran
cited by Republicans.

That suggests the confirmation hearings and the personal meetings with Mr.
Hagel that will likely take place later this month could be decisive. Mr.
Hagel, of Nebraska, has already begun calling senators who will play a role
in the confirmation process.

Looming large over the coming discussions is Mr. Schumer, the third-ranking
Democrat in the chamber and one of the most prominent senators for whom
strong American support for Israel is a key issue.
 [image: image]
 [image: image]
Associated Press

Mr. Schumer hasn't endorsed Mr. Hagel as defense secretary.
Earlier

   - *Hagel, Obama Forged Bond Over
Iraq<http://online.wsj.com/article/SB10001424127887323706704578229991679749944.html>
   *1/10/2013

It would be hard for Mr. Schumer, who is generally loyal to his party, to
oppose Mr. Hagel. But the senator has won strong support among constituents
and donors for being an advocate for Israel, and he has so far declined to
endorse Mr. Hagel's nomination, saying only that he needs to study his
former colleague's record and question him about it.

In private, Mr. Schumer has told Jewish leaders in New York he has serious
concerns with the nomination, according to people familiar with the
conversations.

"He is the No. 3 Democrat in the Democratic hierarchy, and the Jewish
community is outraged by the Hagel nomination," said former New York City
Mayor Ed Koch. "I think he should speak out more forcefully, publicly."

Some Israel advocacy groups, such as the right-leaning Emergency Committee
for Israel, have opposed the nomination. Others, such as the much larger
American Israel Public Affairs Committee, haven't taken a stance. The group
J Street, which has backed policies opposed by Israel's conservative
government, supports Mr. Hagel's nomination. Sen. Carl Levin (D., Mich.),
who is Jewish and the Armed Services Committee chairman, has called Mr.
Hagel "well qualified."
 Politics Counts

<http://online.wsj.com/article/SB10001424127887324442304578236103215425668.html?mod=WSJ_hps_MIDDLENexttoWhatsNewsThird#>

The White House declined to comment. A spokesman for Mr. Schumer declined
to make him available for an interview. In a Wall Street Journal interview
this past week, Mr. Schumer said it was "too early to tell" whether Mr.
Hagel would be confirmed.

"They know each other. I think they personally respect each other," said
Sen. Jack Reed (D., R.I.), an Armed Service Committee member who supports
Mr. Hagel's nomination. "So this is going to be a discussion between the
two of them that will lead ultimately to the confidence that he will make a
superb secretary of defense."

While nominees who draw opposition sometimes withdraw from consideration,
rejection of a presidential nominee for a cabinet post is rare. The Senate
has rejected cabinet nominees only twice since the end of World War II,
according to the Senate Historical Office. John Tower, George H.W. Bush's
nominee for defense secretary, in 1989; and Lewis Strauss, Dwight
Eisenhower's nominee for commerce secretary, in 1959.

In talking with Mr. Hagel, Mr. Schumer will likely seek to address concerns
from organizations such as the American Jewish Committee, a nonpartisan
group that hasn't taken a stance on Mr. Hagel's nomination. but has raised
issues with the pick.

Among other things, the group wants to make sure Mr. Hagel wouldn't rule
out military intervention aimed at preventing Iran from obtaining nuclear
weapons and won't call for direct negotiations between Israel and Hamas,
the Palestinian group that controls the Gaza Strip.

Sen. Kirsten Gillibrand, another New York Democrat, could also present a
challenge for Mr. Hagel. Because she sits on the Armed Services Committee,
she will have a chance to question him publicly and vote on whether to move
his nomination to the full Senate. After Mr. Hagel's nomination Monday,
Mrs. Gillibrand specifically questioned his record on Iran policy.

If anything, Ms. Gillibrand's moves will be watched more closely by Israel
supporters in New York City and its suburbs than will Mr. Schumer's. While
Mr. Schumer is a Jewish Brooklynite who has been vocal on Israel for
decades, Mrs. Gillibrand is a Catholic from upstate New York and a relative
newcomer to the Senate, having arrived in 2009.

*Write to *Andrew Grossman at andrew.grossman at wsj.com

A version of this article appeared January 12, 2013, on page A4 in the U.S.
edition of The Wall Street Journal, with the headline: Democrat's Stance
Key to Hagel's Fate.




-- 
Robert Naiman
Policy Director
Just Foreign Policy
www.justforeignpolicy.org
naiman at justforeignpolicy.org
-------------- next part --------------
An HTML attachment was scrubbed...
URL: <http://lists.chambana.net/pipermail/peace-discuss/attachments/20130112/bd0323b6/attachment.html>