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After confirmation

Chuck Hagel, left, with Barack Obama

After a bitter battle and strong protest coming from pro-Israel circles — both Jewish and non-Jewish — Chuck Hagel’s confirmation as President Obama’s new secretary of defense has been approved by Congress. On January 7, Obama nominated Hagel to succeed Leon Panetta in the crucial role of defense secretary, and since that day, the topic of Hagel captured headlines in Jewish and mainstream media.

The Vietnam War veteran, and former Republican senator from Nebraska, was accused of soft anti-Semitism, having once stated that the “Jewish lobby intimidates a lot of people [on Capitol Hill].” He has urged Israel to open dialogue with Hamas, a terrorist group, and doesn’t support unilateral action against Iran – but fails to present an alternative other than claiming that the sanctions in place are doing the job. Unfortunately Iran’s crippling economy, further crippled by the sanctions, doesn’t seem to prevent the regime in Tehran from continuing to develop its nuclear capabilities.

Some critics chose to go with hyperbole, such as Senator Lindsey Graham, who said that Hagel would be “the most antagonistic secretary of defence towards the state of Israel in our nation’s history.” We wouldn’t go that far, but here at the IJN — though we didn’t give much credit to the anti-Semitism allegation — we did express concern about Hagel’s cluelessness on Iran, and as a Jewish publication, concern for what that means for Israel.

(Pro-Israel advocates and hawkish Republicans weren’t the only to oppose Hagel; he was also criticized for having an anti-LGBT voting record during his career in the Senate, though the connection between that issue and defense policy is a little more tenuous than the Senator’s views on Iran and Israel.)

As divisions deepened and the debate around his confirmation became more acrimonious, Hagel (like all politicians) made confusing attempts to backtrack on some of his previous statements and reassure a concerned public that he does indeed consider Iran a dangerous threat and is an “unequivocal” supporter of Israel’s.

But now that Hagel is safely ensconced in his new position, the question is, what’s the truth? The statements Hagel made in the past two months — or those made over the past ten years? Who really knows, but the point is, the divisiveness over Hagel’s new position makes it more important than ever for Obama to be tough on Iran, otherwise the regime in Tehran will use the weakness in Obama’s White House to its advantage. We wholeheartedly agree with Alan Dershowitz’s opinion that Obama must made it clear that he – not the secretary of defense – makes policy, and that that policy is “to prevent Iran from developing nuclear weapons,” as Dershowitz wrote in an op-ed for Haaretz. We’re perhaps less optimistic that Obama has the spine to do as Dershowitz suggests.

Of secondary concern, will the new defense secretary lash out at those who opposed his appointment, become more convinced of the existence of a “Jewish lobby”, and will Israel be on the receiving end of any potential resentment? Dershowitz writes, “Because the controversy over Hagel’s nomination became so partisan, his confirmation victory cannot be seen as a defeat for Israel or for the pro-Israel lobby in the United States.”

Let’s hope Hagel sees it that way, too.

Update: So far so good: Hagel’s first bilateral meeting as Pentagon chief was yesterday with Ehud Barak, who was in Washington for AIPAC. Story here




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