On the Hagel, non-controversy, this from the Israeli daily Haaretz …
Deputy Foreign Minister Danny Ayalon told Jewish leaders in New York on Thursday that President Obama’s nominee for Secretary of Defense, Chuck Hagel, is a “decent and fair interlocutor who believes in the natural partnership between Israel and the United States.”
Ayalon told a meeting of the Conference of Presidents of Major Jewish Organizations, which convened to bid him farewell, “I know Hagel personally. When I was ambassador in Washington, we had many meetings, I cannot say that we agreed on everything, but he was a decent and fair interlocutor and you can reason with him. I think he believes in the relationship, in the natural partnership between Israel and the United States.”
To put it mildly, Ayalon is not a dove in Israeli politics.
As long as we’re on the topic, can I be first to note that hapless Republican efforts to find controversy and need to block Jack Lew nomination suggests anti-Hagel push isn’t going so well?
