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Bush on Israel at 60

George Bush’s speech to the Knesset is getting a great deal of well-deserved criticism for its none too subtle slap at Barack Obama. Yet, what’s also quite striking about the speech is the utter absence of any hint of criticism for Israel. To be sure, Israel deserves praise as just about the only viable liberal democracy in its part of the world, and the occasion was one requiring a generally positive speech. Yet, the occasion usefully could have been used to nudge Israel on some key points.

Bush starts off early in the speech with a surprising (to me) nod to Ariel Sharon:

My only regret is that one of Israel’s greatest leaders is not here to share the moment. He is a warrior for the ages, a man of peace, and a dear friend. The prayers of all Americans are with Ariel Sharon.

Sorry, but some of us have not forgotten Sharon’s responsibility for the Sabra and Shatila massacre. Likewise, not all of us have forgotten Sharon’s long support for Israel’s illegal settlements on the West Bank and in Gaza.

Later Bush opines:

When Americans look at Israel, we see a pioneer spirit that worked an agricultural miracle and now leads a high-tech revolution.

Well, yes, but how about Israel’s history of industrial espionage against the United States? From Time in 2004:

The FBI ... has grumbled privately that Israeli espionage agents routinely prowl California’s Silicon Valley and Boston’s Route 128 corridor for high-tech secrets. “The Israelis were bumping into very nearly every one of our friends and allies doing the same thing,” says a former FBI counterintelligence agent. In a report last year to the Senate Intelligence Committee, the CIA identified Israel as one of six foreign countries with “a government-directed or -orchestrated clandestine effort to collect U.S. economic secrets.”

Back to Bush’s speech:

Israel has built a thriving democracy in the heart of the Holy Land. You have welcomed immigrants from the four corners of the Earth. You have forged a free and modern society based on a love of liberty, a passion for justice, and a respect for human dignity.

Indeed, as already noted, Israel’s democracy deserves praise. But what about discrimination against its Arab citizens?  Indeed, Bush’s own State Department finds that:

… the Government does not provide Israeli Arabs, who constitute approximately 20 percent of the population, with the same quality of education, housing, employment, and social services as Jews. In addition, government spending is proportionally far lower in predominantly Arab areas than in Jewish areas; on a per capita basis, the Government spends two-thirds as much for Arabs as for Jews. Although such policies are based on a variety of factors, they reflect de facto discrimination against the country’s non-Jewish citizens.

And then there’s the rampant use of administrative detention without trial. Settlements. Expulsions. Harassment of Christian missionaries by groups like Yad L’Ahim. The de facto creation of a border via the security wall.

Maybe this wasn’t the right occasion for raising any of these issues, but one hopes that Bush found an appropriate occasion to do so.