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April 6, 2007
Supporting Israel
Giuliani touches on Passover and freedom at N.J. fund-raiser.
DAVE GORDON
Though recent first-quarter fund-raising numbers show that former
Massachusetts governor Mitt Romney has raised the most funds for
the Republican presidential bid, the former mayor of New York, Rudy
Giuliani, remains at the top of the polls. On March 27, his remarks
at a New Jersey fund-raising reception focused on the issue that
many Republicans and conservatives have touted as the most important
factor in choosing a candidate – national security.
Offence, and not defence, is what he says is his preferred approach
to fighting terrorism.
"Our job is to try to stop them before they harm us, and use
our military if we have to, as we've done in Afghanistan and in
Iraq," he said, adding that a combination of the U.S. Patriot
Act, electronic surveillance and interrogation should be done, "with
an eye toward getting this information before they come here and
hurt us again. I think that's played a big role in our being safe....
I think the way we're dealing with terrorism now, for all the introspection
and all
the things that have gone wrong, more things have gone right."
Giuliani is known best for his leadership during and after the 9/11
terrorist attacks, and his refusal of a $10 million donation for
disaster relief from Saudi Prince Alwaleed bin Talal after the prince
suggested that U.S. policies in the Middle East contributed to the
Sept. 11 attacks.
"I believe that I should be the next president of the United
States for a lot of reasons, but probably the most important one
of which is ... [how I] understand terrorism better than the other
people that are running," he said. "Many of them are very
sincere, many of them have very strong views like I do. Some have,
I think, very incorrect views. But I don't think any of them really
understand terrorism quite the way I do."
The incident that he considered to be the harbinger of modern terrorism
was the kidnapping, and subsequent murders, of the 11 Israeli athletes
at the Munich Olympics in 1972. He spoke about his aggravation with
the German government of the time, which set the perpetrators free.
"They were afraid of other terrorist attacks in Germany,"
said Giuliani. "And then European governments did this over
and over again."
Equally poignant to Giuliani was an incident that occurred while
he was in the U.S. Attorney's office about 13 years later. In 1985,
the ship Achille Lauro was hijacked by Palestinian terrorists, who
murdered passenger Leon Klinghoffer, an American, and threw him
into the Mediterranean.
"Simple reason why he was killed – he was Jewish,"
Giuliani said. "And it was carried out by Arafat's Islamic
terrorists ... the Europeans appeased terrorists." According
to Giuliani, the Italian authorities captured the terrorists and
Prime Minister Craxi freed them two hours later: "He was afraid
that there would be repercussions for Italy."
Abu Abbas, the mastermind of the kidnapping, however, was captured
in April 2003 by American forces liberating Iraq, and died shortly
thereafter in custody.
Giuliani spoke of his optimism for peace, but his pragmatism towards
how Yasser Arafat was treated by the United States. He said that
he worked hard with the state department to keep Arafat out of the
United States, as far back as the 1980s.
"So when the United States began to embrace him, I became concerned
about it."
And yet, he thought it was possible at the time to negotiate, with
the aim of getting the PLO to stop terrorism and to recognize Israel
– not just through lip service but through significant actions
over a significant period of time. "Then you make concessions
to him, after he's done that," said Giuliani.
It was Giuliani's hope that democracy would take root among Palestinians,
and Israel would reciprocate in response. "But we didn't do
any of that," he said. "We pushed Israel to make concessions
to him. It didn't matter that he didn't live up to his word."
Giuliani spoke of his affinity for the state of Israel and the effect
that his three visits there have had on him.
One such visit set the stage for Giuliani's understanding of a city
living under terror. During the time he was mayor of New York, he
received an invitation from Ehud Olmert, then mayor of Jerusalem,
to help quell fears after a homicide bombing in Jerusalem. The two
rode a Jerusalem bus together in a show of solidarity, and the two
have remained good friends since then.
"I went there to lift their morale. I went there to give them
a sense of strength and solidarity and courage, and they lifted
my morale," he said. "[T]hese are really strong people.
I kept thinking why they are really strong. They're really strong
people because they understand freedom."
The concept of freedom was a timely topic for Giuliani, speaking
a few days before world Jewry retold the story of the Exodus of
Egypt.
"Now that's what your Passover is all about, right? From the
time that you're little you have seders, and you study the story
of emerging from slavery to freedom," he said to the some 100
Jewish supporters who attended the home reception fund-raiser.
"The people who love freedom just have this tremendous strength
to get through the worst things they can get through. The Holocaust,
the worst attempt at annihilation maybe in human history, right?
And the Jewish people survived. But with a terrible price."
In light of the increasing incidents of worldwide anti-Semitism,
Giuliani said that he's proud of America's support for Israel. "More
and more Americans have become closer to Israel," he said.
"I get some of my greatest applause when I talk about supporting
Israel, understanding how important Israel is to the defence of
the United States, how we share democracy together and how we deal
with terrorism. I understand what's at stake."
Dave Gordon is a freelance writer in Brooklyn. His website
is DaveGordonWrites.com.
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