Israel and Middle East Policy
Ted Kennedy was a staunch supporter of Israel while in the Senate, and was mourned by Israeli leaders such as Shimon Peres and Avigdor Lieberman as a "friend to Israel" when he died. According to one tally, Ted Kennedy voted 100 percent in concert with positions taken by the American Israel Public Affairs Committee. During the run up to the Iraq War, Kennedy said '“Iran has had closer ties to terrorism than Iraq...Iran has a nuclear weapons development program, and it already has a missile that can reach Israel.”
Ted Kennedy's death gained massive public attention in Israel, as all the Kennedy brothers were big supporters of the Jewish state, including Ted Kennedy. In his Senate career, Kennedy promoted US aid to Israel and fought against proposed arms sales to Jordan and Saudi Arabia. He became the first American politician to meet with Soviet refuseniks in 1974. He rebuked the George H. W. Bush administration when it stopped loan guarantees with Israeli given the Israeli settlement issue. He also opposed dividing Jerusalem up in a peace deal.
Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu called Kennedy, "a great friend of Israel", and he continued by saying that Kennedy would be missed. Jewish Agency Chairman Natan Sharansky, who was a prisoner of Zion in the Soviet Union, told The Jerusalem Post, "When we were in prison - when I was in prison - Senator Kennedy was one of the most important contacts for our wives and families. He helped bring down the iron curtain and he helped Soviet Jews immigrate to Israel."
"Kennedy was clearly a friend of Israel all the way, and in every place that he could help us he did," said Israeli President Shimon Peres. His death was "a very big loss to every sensitive and thinking person the world over. May his soul rest in peace."
The Israeli Foreign Ministry issued a condolence for the loss of Ted Kennedy, Israeli Minister of Foreign Affairs, Avigdor Lieberman, talked about how Ted Kennedy would be missed and how great of a friend he was for Israel.
- "Our alliance with Israel is an alliance based on common democratic ideals and mutual benefit. In the critical region of the eastern Mediterranean and the Middle East, Israel is a rock of strength, stability, and friendship,... We must never barter the freedom and future of Israel for a barrel of oil - or foolishly try to align the Arab world with us, no matter what cost."
- -Ted Kennedy's speech in 1980
Read more about this topic: Political Positions Of Ted Kennedy
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