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President Shimon Peres embracing U.S. House of Representatives Speaker Nancy Pelosi (D-CA) before their meeting in Jerusalem on Sunday. (Reuters)
Last update - 21:32 18/05/2008
Pelosi: I trust all presidential candidates in regard to Israel
By Shmuel Rosner, Haaretz Correspondent
Tags: Nancy Pelosi, Hillary Clinton 

WASHINGTON - The Speaker of the House of Representatives, the most powerful woman in America, perhaps in the world, has no doubts. Nancy Pelosi waves her hand in a dismissive gesture - she trusts everyone when it comes to Israel.

She has faith in both Barack Obama and Hillary Clinton, the members of her own Democratic party who are chasing the presidency, and even the candidate from the opposing Republican party, John McCain. Everyone, everyone will support Israel. The rest is election night politics, not American policy.

Pelosi sits upright on the cushioned chair in her office. Her day began at 6:30 A.M., so she could squeeze in everything that needs to be done before she gets on a plane to Israel. Pelosi, like Bush last week, is visting to celebrate the 60th anniversary of a certain small country in the Middle East. The establishment of the State of Israel, she says, was "one bright spot in the Twentieth Century."
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Israel's relations with the United States, she says, is important to each of the candidates, and to her too. This support is non-partisan, and Pelosi declines to enter into any in-depth analysis of the current political sniping about which party is better for Israel. It seems that this question gets short shrift, particularly on the eve of such a festive trip.

Last week, the Washington Post ran an interesting piece by Richard Holbrooke, one of the senior figures in Bill Clinton's White House. Two decades ago, Holbrooke helped Clark Clifford, in the 1940s a young aide to then-president Harry Truman, write his memoirs.

Holbrooke recounts in the Post article the massive row between Clifford and then-secretary of state George C. Marshall. The former supported American recognition of the nascent Jewish state, while the latter was vehemently opposed. "Truman's decision, although opposed by almost the entire foreign policy establishment, was the right one," Holbrooke writes.

On this subject, Pelosi recalls her late father Representative Thomas D'Alesandro, who was also one of the first and most ardent supporters of recognition of Israel. Congressman D'Alesandro had previously tried to press Truman's predecessor, Franklin Roosevelt, into a swifter response to the Nazi Holocaust of the Jews.

"I'm not saying that Franklin Roosevelt would not have recognized Israel," she stresses.

In the past few weeks, American publications have been full of pieces debating Israel's future, a number of which cast doubt on the state's survival.

Italian American Pelosi has one response to this: "Per cent'anni." It's an expression meaning "for a hundred years."

But, she qualifies the remark: "Those hundred years doesn't mean exactly one hundred. It means forever."

Shmuel Rosner's full interview with Nancy Pelosi will appear in Monday's Haaretz newspaper

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      1.   Whom do you trust? 14:35  |  Ben Menachem 18/05/08
      2.   She`s right 14:39  |  Clickfool 18/05/08
      3.   Who knows one? 14:43  |  Gideon Reader 18/05/08
      4.   # 2 Clicky....Let`s face it 15:17  |  Lynn 18/05/08
      5.   Pelosi, it`s rebirth read the Bible,,,Obama is an open question. 15:28  |  r 18/05/08
      6.   Pelosi, the "pseudo-liberal" and her friends.... 15:33  |  Swiss (Dino) 18/05/08
      7.   Obama is the man 15:57  |  Natallie Durson 18/05/08
      8.   To Dino: Why isn`t is liberal to support Israel? 16:17  |  Abraham Saks 18/05/08
      9.   Lynn....ancient Israel not..... 16:36  |  David James Vickery 18/05/08
      10.   Giz a hug! 17:32  |  Arnie 18/05/08
      11.   To Dino (Swiss) 17:35  |  Raoul 18/05/08
      12.   #8 - David James Vickery 17:43  |  Eric 18/05/08
      13.   The rebirth of Israel. The coming of age.Maurity.? 18:06  |  Stephen. 18/05/08
      14.   Trust in the opposite direction 18:12  |  Shimon Cleopas 18/05/08
      15.   PELOSI, A SHILL FOR ISRAEL 18:48  |  JH 18/05/08
      16.   # 6 Abraham Saks 18:50  |  Swiss (Dino) 18/05/08
      17.   David James Vickery 18:55  |  DJ 18/05/08
      18.   James David vickery (2) 19:05  |  DJ 18/05/08
      19.   Clickfool - `the cut & paste guru` 19:12  |  Michael 18/05/08
      20.   #8 David James Vickery 19:35  |  Axel 18/05/08
      21.   Pelosi`s visit 19:35  |  Martin Jeffrey 18/05/08
      22.   #10 - Swiss liberalizm 20:03  |  SG 18/05/08
      23.   Do you know who Tommy d`Alessandro of Baltimore was?????????? 20:19  |  Alan SA 18/05/08
      24.   The embrace 20:42  |  hollingsworth 18/05/08
      25.   we have choices in a democracy 20:49  |  hollingsworth 18/05/08
      26.   #25 - hollingsworth election 23:04  |  SG 18/05/08
      27.   David James Vickery, try to read some recent DNA studies 23:19  |  Bruce 18/05/08
      28.   Natallie Durson, Obama is the man 23:28  |  Bruce 18/05/08
      29.   ten commandments 00:19  |  yashua 19/05/08
      30.   all the support money can bye 00:55  |  billy jack 19/05/08
      31.   What does `supporting Israel` mean? 01:09  |  Edith 19/05/08
      32.   I do not trust any of them in that regard and not Pelosi at all 01:14  |  Simcha 19/05/08
      33.   #12 eric: "no Arabs living in Israel at the time of Jesus" 01:23  |  hala 19/05/08
      34.   #26 DNA studies 01:28  |  hala 19/05/08
      35.   Natalie Durson 01:52  |  FalluJah 19/05/08
      36.   DURSON #7 Obama is the man 02:59  |  Nechama 19/05/08
      37.   We all know that our presidential candidates.. 03:45  |  hollingsworth 19/05/08
      38.   #34 - hollingsworth candidates 06:09  |  SG 19/05/08
      39.   #15 JH, Yes Pelosi is a disgrace 08:26  |  Dutch 19/05/08
      40.   Pelosi = Very Classy and Sincere, But Mistaken 10:19  |  Tod Zuckerman 19/05/08
      41.   Pelosi 14:45  |  Ben Dror 19/05/08
      42.   executive powers 15:11  |  Paul 19/05/08
      43.   bottom line 17:17  |  hollingsworth 19/05/08
      44.   The Fallacy of Appeasement 18:24  |  Brod 19/05/08
      45.   #7 - Natallie Durson 19:16  |  MichaelF 19/05/08
      46.   #33 - hala 19:19  |  MichaelF 19/05/08
      47.   #46 How many more years after "the fact?" 20:40  |  hala 19/05/08
      48.   Support for Israel 21:23  |  G.L. Collins 19/05/08
      49.   Pelosi`s "PER CENT`ANNI" and "STO LAT" 22:07  |  hala 19/05/08
      50.   #1 - Ben Menachem 19:44  |  MichaelF 23/05/08
      51.   #6 - Swiss (Dino) 19:47  |  MichaelF 23/05/08
      52.   The identity of next president is irrelevant 14:21  |  Bruce 14/06/08
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