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Foxman should stop crying wolf

ADL put out a statement today criticizing General David Petraeus for his testimony Tuesday before the Senate Armed Services Committee.

Petraeus had made the observation that "enduring hostilities between Israel and some of its neighbors present distinct challenges to our ability to advance our interests in the area of responsibility."

"Arab anger over the Palestinian question limits the strength and depth of U.S. partnerships with governments and peoples [in the region]," Petraeus added.

This is common sense. America's interests are directly tied to Middle East peace and to Israel. The U.S. is fighting two wars in the greater Middle East, and is trying to mobilize an international effort to address the threat posed by Iran.

But ADL's Abe Foxman doesn't appear to be interested in these facts. To make his case, he miscasts Petraeus's comments into a straw-man argument:

"The General's assertions lead to the illusory conclusion that if only there was a resolution of the Israeli-Palestinian conflict, the U.S. could successfully complete its mission in the region... Whenever the Israeli-Arab conflict is made a focal point, Israel comes to be seen as the problem.  If only Israel would stop settlements, if only Israel would talk with Hamas, if only Israel would make concessions on refugees, if only it would share Jerusalem, everything in the region would then fall into line. "

Of course, that's not the conclusion that Petraeus offered. He didn't say that the resolution of the Israeli-Palestinian conflict would solve all the problems of the region. It's not a silver bullet. He simply said that it's one in a series of items that influence the strategic environment in which America operates in the Middle East and South Asia.

I hope that Foxman takes the time to review some of the studies of public opinion from this part of the world, like this Brookings Institution study which shows that America is often viewed through the prism of the Israeli-Palestinian conflict. Foxman doesn't have to like it. (I don't like it myself.) But it is an objective fact. And it does us no good to stick our heads in the sand and pretend otherwise.

Even Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu acknowledged last Spring that the Arab-Israeli conflict has an impact on efforts to stop Iran from developing nuclear weapons: "There are causal links... It would help, obviously, unite a broad front against Iran if we had peace between Israel and the Palestinians," he said.

A similar point, by the way, was made by the bi-partisan Iraq Study Group, which wrote: "The United States cannot achieve its goals in the Middle East unless it deals directly with the Arab-Israeli conflict and regional instability."

But beyond lacking factual basis, Foxman's statement is troubling for two other reasons:

First, Israel's future depends on peace. And peace requires strong American diplomatic leadership. Such leadership will likely entail a high political cost for any president. The effort to make discussion of America's national security interest in peace a taboo subject plays into the hands of those who are comfortable with the status quo, a status quo in which Israel is slowly drifting towards an apartheid state.

Second, ADL is one of the most storied organizations in American history. It plays an invaluable role fighting bigotry and anti-Semitism. When its leader makes such a statement, it inevitably undermines ADL's ability to be credible when it seeks to carry out this core mission. American Jews can't afford to have ADL cry wolf.