Ron Paul insists: 'Israel encourages Americans to go into Iran'

1.

Ron Paul was on Meet the Press this morning, and for some reason, Israel was at the top of the agenda. As I wrote in the past, Paul was very careful not to single out Israel when it comes to foreign aid.

Will you cut off all foreign aid to Israel, he was asked. "Absolutely," he said. But he didn't forget to add that he meant Israel "and the Arabs." Paul did raise some questions about his views regarding Israel when he talked about Israel and Iran.

2.

Paul's supporters were praising their candidate's performance in the program before it even ended. Those are the kind of supporters he has. They were also furious with the host, Tim Russert, for his tough questioning of the candidate. This, after many weeks during which they were angry with him for not inviting Paul to the program.

3.

So here is what Paul had to say about Israel and Iran:

What if Iran would "invade" Israel? (This is a somewhat strange framing of the question. The danger people seem to view in a nuclear Iran is that it will bomb Israel, not invade it.)

Paul: "Well, they are not going to. That is like saying that Iran is about to invade Mars. They have nothing, they don't have an army or a navy or an air force. Israelis have 300 nuclear weapons, nobody would touch them... It is an impossible situation."

So far so good. Whatever one thinks of Paul's foreign policy analysis, assuming that Iran will not harm Israel is a legitimate position. But here is where Paul becomes more - well - kooky:

Russert showed him a quote of something he said on CNN: "Israel is dependent on us, you know, for economic means. We send them these billions of dollars and then they depend on us. They say, well, you know, we don't like Iran. You go fight our battles. You bomb Iran for us. And they become dependent on us."

Then the question: "who in Israel says go bomb Iran for us?"

Paul: "Well, I don't know the individual, but we know that the leadership, you read it in the papers daily, that the government of Israel encourages Americans to go into Iran. I don't think that's a top secret..."

Russert: "That the government of Israel wants us to bomb Iran?"

Paul: "I don't think there's a doubt that they've encouraged us to do that. And of course the neoconservatives have been anxious to do that for a long time."

4.

A couple of points on this Q&A exchange:

A. Maybe it is true that Israeli leaders want America to bomb Iran. I wouldn't be surprised to discover that is the case. But Paul can't prove it. They have never stated such a position publicly, and are very careful not to even hint that they want it as Paul described it. Since he did not present any evidence apart from reading the paper (what paper? who wrote what?), I'd presume that this is no more than the ventilation of rumors and assumptions and anti-Israel propaganda.

B. Iran is a problem for Israel, but it is also an American problem. The Bush administration and many other policy wonks from all political parties believe that Iran poses a challenge to America for many reasons apart from the threat to eliminate Israel. Paul might disagree, but he should have mentioned that. Otherwise, the impression he is creating is misleading at best (and manipulative at worst).

C. Mentioning the "neoconservatives" in this context doesn't seem innocent. Is it Paul's way of hinting that there's a cabal ("Jewish cabal") dragging America to war with Iran?

5.

Paul is trying to pretend that Israel's best interest concerns him. "Why make Israel so dependent... They can't defend their borders without coming to us. If they want a peace treaty they have to ask us permission? we have made them second-class citizens. I think they would take much better care of themselves..."

Maybe so.

But do you believe for a second he really cares?

6.

And all this requires a small change in my bottom line regarding Paul from the last time I wrote about him:

"So why does it seem as if he deals with Israel more than with many other countries? The reason is simple: Israel's profile in America is high, and the issues of concern to Israel are also those troubling America. One can plausibly suspect that Paul is somewhat more irritated with Israel than with most other countries. But for a candidate opposing foreign aid and any American involvement in the Middle East, this is not an unreasonable annoyance."

Change "unreasonable" to "unexpected" and I'll be perfectly fine with it.