Sarah Palin in the Jewish and Israeli Press

Governor Sarah Palin - 2008 U.S. Vice Presidential Candidate
"... Gov. Palin expressed her deep, personal, and lifelong commitment to the safety and well-being of Israel"
"... she has Israel in her heart"

A collection of articles from the Jewish and Israeli Press

Governor Sarah Palin was chosen by Republican John McCain as his candidate for Vice President in the 2008 US election race.
Sarah Palin knows the rules of the game, what she lacks in intellect and leadership capacities she compensates by pushing a pro-Israel, Zionist, agenda, with the aim of getting goodwill from the real powerbrokers in Washington, and their medias.

In this section we reproduce articles mainly from the Jewish and Israeli Press, quoting mrs. Palin and the Jews´ opinions on her. As the material is quite massive, underlines to some key paragraphs and quotes have been added by Radio Islam. If we have deleted some section of text from the original (due to not being sufficiently interesting), this is indicated by: [...] .

The Washington Times, September 4, 2008

Evangelical faith drives Palin's pro-Israel view

By Ralph Z. Hallow

ST. PAUL, Minn. - Sarah Palin displays an Israeli flag in her governor's office in Juneau, even though she has never been to the country, and attends Protestant evangelical churches that consider the preservation of the state of Israel a biblical imperative.

Her faith makes her a favorite with the staunchly pro-Israel neoconservative elements in the Republican Party.

But other Republicans may be concerned that a John McCain-Sarah Palin administration will disregard the caution of former President George H.W. Bush and some of his top advisers and continue the tilt toward Israel.

Most Republicans and conservatives outside Alaska know little about Mrs. Palin's foreign policy views - on Israel or anything else.

But Tucker Eskew, who holds the title of counselor to Mrs. Palin in the McCain-Palin campaign, left no doubt where she stands.

"She would describe herself as a strong supporter of Israel's, with an understanding of Israel's fear of an Iran in possession of nuclear weapons," Mr. Eskew told The Washington Times.

In June, Mrs. Palin told ministry students at her former church that in going to war with Iraq, the United States is "on a task that is from God," the Associated Press reported.

Mrs. Palin's brand of evangelical Protestantism is especially well-disposed to the preservation of Israel for biblical reasons, said Merrill Matthews, an evangelical Christian and a Dallas-based health-policy specialist.

Mrs. Palin was baptized as a teenager at the Wasilla Assembly of God Church. She frequently attends the Juneau Christian Center, which is also part of the Pentecostal Assemblies of God. Her home church is the Church of the Rock, an independent congregation.

"Historically, the Assemblies of God have been dispensationalists, which means they believe in 'the rapture' of Christians that takes them out of the world," said Mr. Matthews. "Central to that position is a very strong support for Israel. It's integral to their view of both prophecy and politics. Denying Israel is almost like denying the faith."

Meanwhile, she is getting rave reviews from Jewish Republicans.

"I think it is very telling that she has a flag of the state of Israel in her office," said Matthews Brooks, executive director of the Republican Jewish Coalition. "That was not inspired by domestic politics, since there is a very small Jewish population in Alaska.

"The fact that she keeps the flag of Israel in her office means she has Israel in her heart," Mr. Brooks said. "I am confident the Jewish community will be impressed with the strong pro-Israel views of Governor Palin as she begins to travel the country and ... discuss the critical issues in this campaign."

Alaskapodshow.com An online episode of "Hike of the Week, Travel Adventures," featuring Alaska Gov. Sarah Palin, shows the small Israeli flag (circled in background) that she keeps in her Juneau office.

On the Democratic side, presidential nominee Sen. Barack Obama and his running mate, Sen. Joseph R. Biden Jr., while not identifying with neoconservatism, have put themselves solidly in the friends of Israel camp.

"The essence of neoconservatism is the protection of Israel - a shared priority with evangelical Christians," said Paul Erickson, the Republican strategist who managed Pat Buchanan's presidential bid in 1992.

Chief among the McCain campaign's foreign policy advisers known for their neoconservative worldview is Randy Scheunemann, a former aide to Trent Lott and Bob Dole in the Senate.

Other neoconservative foreign policy analysts who have Mr. McCain's ear are former Clinton White House CIA Director R. James Woolsey Jr., who predicted that Iraq's Shi'ite Muslims would flock to support the U.S. in the event of war, and Robert Kagan, a co-founder of the neoconservative Project for the New American Century.

The Republican presidential hopefuls who competed with Mr. McCain earlier this year tended to share the same interventionist approach in foreign policy that is integral to the neoconservative worldview.

"There is an overwhelming presence of neoconservatives and absence of traditional conservatives that I don't know what to make of," said Richard V. Allen, former Reagan White House national security adviser.

In June, Mr. Obama pledged his support before a powerful pro-Israel lobby, though not couched in biblical or religious terms.

"I will do everything in my power to prevent Iran from obtaining a nuclear weapon," he told the American Israel Public Affairs Committee (AIPAC) in Washington. "Let there be no doubt: I will always keep the threat of military action on the table to defend our security and our ally Israel."

Not to be outdone, Mr. Biden appealed in person to elderly Jewish Floridians on Wednesday.

"I am chairman of the [Senate] Foreign Relations Committee," he said. "I give you my word as a Biden I would not have given up that job to be Barack Obama's vice president if I didn't in my gut and in my heart and in my head know that Barack Obama is exactly where I am on Israel. And he is."

On Monday, Mr. McCain told an AIPAC audience that a meeting with Iranian President Mahmoud Ahmadinejad would lead to "anti-Semitic rants and a worldwide audience for a man who denies the Holocaust."

Second night of Sarah Palin's interview with Katie Couric on CBS Evening News, September 25, 2008:

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=xTJXtwJn050

Jewish Telegraphic Agency, 09/25/2008

Palin: Israel is the 'good guy'

Israel is the "good guy" in the Middle East, Sarah Palin said, repeating her assertion that the United States should not second-guess its Iran strategies.

Alaska Gov. Palin, the Republican vice-presidential nominee, was speaking on CBS Thursday in her second foreign policy interview since Sen. John McCain (R-Ariz.) selected her as his running mate a month ago.

Interviewer Katie Couric pressed Palin on her earlier insistence that the United States should not second-guess Israel even if it were to strike Iran to prevent it from getting a nuclear weapon.

"We shouldn’t second-guess Israel's security efforts because we cannot ever afford to send a message that we would allow a second Holocaust," Palin said. "They are our closest ally in the Middle East and they need us we need them and we shouldn't second-guess them."

Palin said the United States would naturally consult with Israel on such matters, but added that it was Israel's right "to fight against a regime like Iran who would seek to wipe them off the earth."

She added: "It is obvious to me who are the good guys and who are the bad guys."

www.israelnationalnews.com, 09/26/2008

Palin: Israel is the Good Guy

By Gil Ronen

(IsraelNN.com) "We shouldn't second guess Israel's security efforts because we cannot ever afford to send a message that we would allow a second Holocaust," Republican Vice Presidential nominee Sarah Palin said in a television interview for CBS.

"Israel has got to have the opportunity and the ability to protect itself. They are our closest ally in the Mideast. We need them. They need us. And we shouldn't second guess their efforts," the Alaska governor added.

"It is obvious to me who the good guys are in this one and who the bad guys are. The bad guys are the ones who say Israel is a stinking corpse and should be wiped off the face of the earth," Palin explained.

"That's not a good guy who is saying that. Now, one who would seek to protect the good guys in this, the leaders of Israel and her friends, her allies, including the United States, in my world, those are the good guys," she said.

The Huffington Post, September 2, 2008

GOP Jews Defend Palin: She Has An Israeli Flag!

By Sam Stein

Voters should feel confident in Sarah Palin support of Israel, Republican Jewish leaders and other GOP figures argued on Tuesday. Not because of the Alaska Governor's policy statements, a proclaimed understanding of the Middle East, or relationships with regional leaders. But because she keeps a small Israeli flag in the corner of her office window.

In back to back sessions in Minneapolis, GOP officials came to the embattled Palin's aid, saying that - scant record aside - Jews should feel confident in John McCain's VP choice. A flag was their defense.

"I think it is extremely telling," said Matt Brooks, executive director of the Republican Jewish Coalition, "that if you are looking to get some insights into how people think, we came across a video of an interview that was done in Alaska, some sort of outdoors program. Some guy interviewing her as she was climbing up glaciers or something like that. Part of the interview took place in the governor's office in Juneau. What was really telling is that in one point in the interview there was a close up of her and you can see over her shoulder there was a flag of Israel in her window. I can assure all of you that is not done to appease the extraordinarily large Jewish community in Juneau. The fact that she has chosen to keep a flag of Israel on her wall tells her she has Israel in her heart."

This, even fellow Republicans admit, is the extent of their argument on Palin's Israel record. In interviews with several attendees of a later event, none could name a single position that the Alaska Governor has made on the Middle East conflict. As the Nation's Ari Berman pointed out

"[Palin's] issues page lists nothing on foreign policy, nor Israel. Even Brooks himself acknowledged that there was not much of a paper record. But he and other GOP officials took solace in the mini-flag that rested in her Juneau headquarters.

"A number of people have told me that by sheer accident that in an interview in her office you know what flag she had in addition to the flags of Alaska and the United States of America?" said Dennis Prager, a syndicated conservative talk show host, during an event with Republican governors. "It was the flag of Israel. And then Congressman Wexler has the chutzpa, the chutzpa to call her an enemy of the state of Israel."

Off at the buffet table - a spread of Wolfgang Puck lamb chops, duck, white rice, and sautéed string beans - an attendee screamed out in horror: "Oh my God."

If there was concern over Palin's rocky roll out and the general mystery that still surrounds her selection, the crowd and the speakers did their best to hide it. Loud cheers came whenever her name was mentioned. But Utah Gov. Jon Huntsman did offer something of an admission to the controversies that have erupted around the presumptive Republican nominee. "She is going through a little challenge right now."

In the end, the best defense seemed to be to deflect attention. Sonny Purdue, the conservative governor of Georgia reminded attendees that: "ladies and gentleman, it won't be the vice president sitting across from these leaders."

Indeed, he added, "there is a clear choice between a leader who has served his nation and who will continue to protect the United States and the nation of Israel. And that leader is John McCain."

Then, in an odd moment, he rallied the predominantly Jewish crowd: "Get evangelic about that."

UPDATE: MSNBC reports that Palin, accompanied by Sen. Joe Lieberman, met with the board of directors of AIPAC today. "We had a good productive discussion on the importance of the U.S.-Israel relationship," said AIPAC spokesman Josh Block, "and we were pleased that Gov. Palin expressed her deep, personal, and lifelong commitment to the safety and well-being of Israel."

The Jerusalem Post, Sep 4, 2008

Biden backs Israel, criticizes AIPAC

By Hilary Leila Krieger [excerpts]

[...]
Biden was in Florida stumping for Jewish votes while the Republican National Convention took place in this Midwestern city. Meanwhile, Sarah Palin, who was set to accept the nomination to be the GOP vice presidential candidate after press time Wednesday, visited with AIPAC members here to reassure them of her commitment to Israel.
[...]
Those familiar with the closed-door meeting Palin held with AIPAC on Tuesday expressed satisfaction with the support and affection Palin had expressed for the Jewish state. The more than 30-minute meeting took place here amid her efforts to draft the speech which will introduce her to much of the American public, who like many in the pro-Israel community knew little about the Alaskan governor when she was tapped last week to be John McCain's running mate.

Senator Joe Lieberman (I-Connecticut), who endorsed McCain at the GOP convention Tuesday night despite having been the Democratic vice presidential nominee in 2000, also participated in Palin's meeting with AIPAC.

"We had a good, productive discussion on the importance of the US-Israel relationship, and we were pleased that Governor Palin expressed her deep personal commitment to the safety and well-being of Israel," [ AIPAC spokesman] Block said. "Now that both the Democrats and the Republicans have determined their respective tickets, AIPAC is pleased that the parties have selected four pro-Israel candidates. In doing so, they have reaffirmed the broad, bipartisan support that exists in our country for a strong US-Israel relationship."

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