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Overnight Video: Una Furtiva Lagrima

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Gus12/21/2012 10:25:01 am PST

The Chuck Hagel Controversy - Jeffrey Goldberg - The Atlantic

Goldblog wasn’t planning on covering the controversy surrounding the so-far theoretical nomination of Chuck Hagel to be secretary of defense, because it is, after all, theoretical, and because I think the situation is much more complex than both right and left think believe it to be, and who wants to get into it right now? I’m into enough at the moment.

But then I received an email being circulated among Jewish liberals who support Hagel, and it provoked me to think through some of the deeper issues here. The point of the aforementioned e-mail was to argue that Hagel is, in fact, “pro-Israel,” and it provides a list of the various times he’s voted for this or that on behalf of Israel in the Senate. “Senator Hagel cosponsored the Palestinian Anti-Terrorism Act of 2006,” for instance. “The bill, which became US law, declared it U.S. policy to oppose organizations such as Hamas and Hezbollah…” And so on.

What struck me as unusual about the list is that it was framed as a response to right-wing criticism. It did not advance arguments you would expect to hear from the Left, but tried to mollify the Right. It contained nothing like, “Hagel is adamant in his support for a settlement freeze,” or somesuch; the letter was designed to say, in effect, “Don’t worry, Hagel is actually closer ideologically to Lindsey Graham than you think.”

About Hagel himself, I have mixed feelings: He is a patriot, and a smart and pleasant man (I’ve met him on a couple of occasions) and if he’s anti-Semitic, he went about hiding this from me pretty well.

Continues.