Ron Paul's Anti-Israel Record and the Republican Primaries

For the Jewish community of New Jersey, Ron Paul is a most disturbing individual. His fervent campaign against the American-Israel alliance is a direct contradiction of the political conservatism of Ronald Reagan and Jack Kemp, for whom support for Israel was at the core of their foreign policy positions.

Equally disturbing, however, was Ron Paul’s condoning of anti-Semitism in the course of his 2008 campaign for the Republican Presidential nomination by his acceptance and retention of a $500 campaign contribution from Don Black, a neo-Nazi leader who runs a vicious white supremacist website, Stormfront.org. Paul also posed for a picture with Black.

To get the full extent of Paul’s anti- Israel campaign, go to the website, www.ronpaul.com, and note the following quote from the webpage, "Ron Paul on Israel", http://www.ronpaul.com/2009-01-12/ron-paul-on-israel/:

"On January 9, Ron Paul addressed Congress to voice his opposition to a House resolution expressing strong support for Israel in its invasion of Gaza, and branding Hamas as a terrorist organization."

Paul’s message speaks for itself: Hamas is not a terrorist organization, in spite of its launching of over 1,000 rockets against citizens of Israel. The United States should not support Israel in its campaign of retaliation against a vile terrorist organization whose "Culture Minister", Atallah Abu Al-Subh greeted the news of 9-11 with the words, "Allah has answered our prayers." And campaign donations from neo-Nazis will be welcomed.

In view of this record of Ron Paul, why would gubernatorial candidate Steve Lonegan and 23rd District State Senate candidate Mike Doherty enthusiastically accept the endorsement of Ron Paul ? Furthermore, why would Mike Doherty have actually made the horrendous misjudgment to support Ron Paul for President in 2008 ?

In terms of Republican conservatism, one matter is abundantly clear: By accepting cheerfully the Paul endorsement, both Steve Lonegan and Mike Doherty have fully divorced themselves from Reagan/Kemp conservatism and have placed themselves squarely in the paleo-conservative camp.

Reagan had been a fervent supporter of the establishment of the State of Israel as far back as during his service as president of the Screen Actors’ Guild during the late 1940s. As I mentioned in my previous PolitickerNJ.com article, "Jack Kemp, Rest in Peace", Kemp had a lifelong personal bond with the American Jewish community, resulting from his growing up in a Jewish section of Los Angeles. When Kemp died, his passing was mourned in Israel as the loss of a friend who also had been a solid supporter of the cause of Soviet Jewry.

Ronald Reagan received a Republican Presidential election record 39 % of the Jewish vote nationally in the 1980 election. In New Jersey, the Jewish community is a major voting constituency, whose presence is largely in suburbs where a Republican gubernatorial candidate will have to do well this fall, particularly in Bergen County. Lonegan’s alliance with Ron Paul will make it virtually impossible for him to receive more than 15 percent of the New Jersey Jewish vote in the unlikely event of his defeating Chris Christie in the primary. When you combine an abysmally low vote total by Lonegan in the Jewish community with a certain less than five per cent vote total in the African-American and Hispanic communities, respectively, there is not a hope of his defeating Corzine.

The election, however, is not the only reason for both Lonegan and Doherty to repudiate the Paul endorsement. Ronald Reagan’s favorite governor was Tom Kean, whose vision for the Republican Party always has been "The Politics of Inclusion". If the New Jersey GOP is to keep alive the Kean vision of inclusiveness, it is absolutely essential that Republican candidates for statewide office and the legislature divorce themselves of any connection with Ron Paul. The course Lonegan and Doherty must take to repudiate their respective Ron Paul endorsements is clear. By not repudiating their Ron Paul endorsements, they will be repudiating the heritage of Reagan and Kemp and the vision of inclusiveness of Kean.