[Congressional Record Volume 144, Number 56 (Thursday, May 7, 1998)]
[Senate]
[Pages S4523-S4524]
From the Congressional Record Online through the Government Publishing Office [www.gpo.gov]




                     UNITED STATES-ISRAEL RELATIONS

  Mr. LAUTENBERG. Mr. President, I rise to discuss a matter that is 
triggered by something I read in the newspaper this morning. I saw it 
in the Washington Post and I saw it in the New York Times, a statement 
that House Speaker Gingrich made when he held a press conference in 
which he criticized the Clinton administration's handling of the peace 
process.
  Now, he, like any one of us in the Congress, has a right to disagree 
with the administration on policy, but I think it is dangerous, 
destructive, certainly demagogic, to say that ``America's strong-arm 
tactics would send a clear signal to the supporters of terrorism that 
their murderous actions are an effective tool in forcing concessions 
from Israel.''
  That is an outrageous statement to make because it accuses President 
Clinton. Further in his statement, and I quote him here:

       Now it's become the Clinton administration and Arafat 
     against Israel, Gingrich said at a Capitol news conference. 
     He also released a letter he sent to President Clinton saying 
     that ``Israel must be able to decide her own security needs 
     and set her own conditions for negotiations without facing 
     coercion from the United States.'' As Israel celebrates its 
     50th anniversary, Speaker Gingrich said the Clinton 
     administration says, ``Happy birthday. Let us blackmail you 
     on behalf of Arafat.''

  In his letter he gave the quote that I just read about America's 
strong-arm tactics, sending ``a clear message that terrorism was an 
acceptable tool in forcing concessions from Israel.''
  Mr. President, I know Israel very well. I had the good fortune over a 
3-year period to serve as chairman of the United Jewish Appeal. That is 
the fundraising arm that helps local institutions within the Jewish 
community, as well as Israel. This was over 20 years ago when Israel 
was getting on its feet. I know lots of people there. I know many 
people who have lost a son, lost a daughter. I know many people who 
visit in the hospitals regularly where their children or their friends 
or their loved ones are in a condition that keeps them hospitalized 
because of wounds they received during the wars.

  I was able to visit Israel within a couple of days after the 1973 war 
was concluded while they were still searching for bodies on both sides, 
Egypt and Israel, in the Sinai desert, and I talked to people who 
regret so much that they are forced at times to inflict pain on their 
neighbors to protect themselves.
  The Israelis have lost some 20,000 soldiers in wars since that 
country was founded--50 years. That is a short period of time. In the 
whole of the 20th century, the United States will have lost less than 
400,000 soldiers in combat. I was in Europe during the war. I served in 
the Army in World War II. Mr. President, 20,000 Israelis is the 
equivalent of 1 million soldiers, 1 million fighters lost in the United 
States on a comparative basis--1 million. Could you imagine the 
heartbreak in this country that would exist if we lost a million 
soldiers in a period of 50 years? It would tear us apart.
  Mr. President, I make this point. I served here under President 
Reagan, I served here under President Bush, and I knew President Carter 
very well because I had tried to help them at times when I was running 
a company in the computer business. They have been good friends to 
Israel because Israel and the United States have many common 
interests--the strength of a democracy, the ability to withstand 
adversity and come up providing freedom at all times for their 
citizens. But there has never been a better friend in the White House 
among the four Presidents I just mentioned than President Clinton. 
President Clinton has approached Israel from the mind as well as the 
heart. He understands what the relationship of Israel to the civilized 
world, to the democratic world, means. And he insists that they be 
permitted to negotiate on their own.
  But as the President and the administration and the State Department 
tried to permit the Israelis and the Palestinians to negotiate their 
own terms, we were called back; we were called in to act as a go-
between. I don't even want to use the term ``as a negotiator'' because 
it is up to the parties to negotiate. But we have been called on to try 
to facilitate the negotiations. And that has been the mission.
  And so, Mr. President, I think it is outrageous that President 
Clinton, that this administration be declared as someone alongside 
terrorists, encouraging Arafat, encouraging those who would destroy 
Israelis. It is an outrage, it is demagoguery at its worst, and I don't 
think that kind of debate ought to be used, whether it is to gain votes 
or whatever else one can gain from those kinds of statements. It 
doesn't further the cause of peace, and it doesn't help our friendship 
with any of the countries in the area. It is the wrong way to go.

[[Page S4524]]

  Mr. President, I believe--and I know that people in Israel believe--
they have to have peace because it is unlike some other parts of the 
world where the absence of peace doesn't necessarily mean violence or 
war. There are tense relations in many parts of the world with one 
country alongside the other where there is no killing between them. It 
doesn't mean that there is affection. It doesn't mean that there is 
necessarily diplomatic or economic pursuits between these places. But 
in that area, I think most people are convinced that if it is not 
peace, it is violence, it is war. That is a condition that every one of 
us wants to see avoided. And so I hope we can take some comfort in the 
fact that we, the United States, are trying to be helpful to all 
parties there. We have worked very hard to make sure that Israel has 
the ability to call upon us when she needs a friend in world forums.
  We are friendly and supportive of Egypt and Jordan and even attempt 
to try to get the Palestinian Authority to renounce parts of their 
covenant that says they want to destroy Israel. Yes, we don't like 
that. But to suggest, on the other hand, that President Clinton is 
someone who wants to send Israel a threatening message that comes from 
the terrorist side of the equation is unfair and, again I say, 
outrageous.
  So I hope the Israelis and the Palestinians will be able to pursue a 
peaceful discourse. No one--no one--knows what Israel needs by way of 
its security better than the people of Israel. They have to make that 
decision. It is not going to be made in Washington, it is going to be 
made in Jerusalem. It is going to be made between the parties, and we 
have to let them do that, but recognize that they want us to play a 
role.
  Mr. President, I yield the floor.
  The PRESIDING OFFICER. The Senator from Wyoming.

                          ____________________