Dole Embraces
Netanyahu Regime

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A major pro-Israel address at the B'nai B'rith biennial in Washington.

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Republican presidential nominee
Bob Dole fine-tuned his pitch to
Jewish audiences last weekend
in a speech to 800 or so delegates
at B'nai B'rith's biennial conven-
tion in Washington.
The speech — billed as a ma-
jor policy address — was the cap-
stone of Mr. Dole's rebirth as a
pro-Israel hard-liner; as Democ-
rats love to point out, Mr. Dole
was a perpetual headache for
pro-Israel forces during most of
his long Senate career.
Mr. Dole chided the Clinton
administration for its all-but-
overt endorsement of Mr. Ne-
tanyahu's predecessor, Shimon
Peres.
"The Clinton administration's
intervention in Israel's recent
election was harmful — and em-
barrassing for Israel," he said.
But he,also made it clear that
the new Israeli government is to
his liking.
"Israel has elected a new con-

servative leadership committed
to free-market economics and the
pursuit of peace through
strength," he said, sounding very
much like a Republican. "I can
assure you that the Dole admin-
istration will find it easy to har-
monize our policies with those of
Prime Minister Netanyahu."
He accused the Clinton ad-
ministration oft rying to "push
Israel to give the Golan Heights
to Syria," and of coddling Syrian
strongman Hafez al-Assad, and
he chided Mr. Clinton for not
moving to implement legislation
requiring the State Department
to move its embassy from Tel
Aviv to Jerusalem — legislation
he sponsored.
And, in a theme that may res-
onate more strongly after Tues-
day's American cruise missile
attack on Iraq, he insisted that
the administration has not done
enough to bring down Saddam
Hussein.

"Saddam's latest brutality
against the Kurds further
demonstrates that America's
friends and allies in the region
will never be truly safe as long as
this bloody dictator remains in
power," he said.
But he did not mention how he
might bring down the Iraqi
leader, a goal that has proven elu-
sive for Democrats and Republi-
cans alike.
Mr. Dole also issued a strong
plea for a missile defense system
as a response to the wild prolif-
eration of ballistic missile tech-
nology.
"The United States is vulner-
able to this threat, but Israel is
even more vulnerable because it
has neighbors with missiles that
can reach it now," he said. He
promised both continued cooper-
ation with Israel on the Arrow
missile program and develop-
ment of "effective and affordable
missile defenses" in this country.

Specter Urges Assad

The Pennsylvania senator has little luck pushing Syria on peace.

Sen. Arlen Specter, R-Pa., sure
knows how to have a good time.
While most of his colleagues
were vacationing or campaign-
ing for re-election, Mr. Specter
was dueling with Syrian Presi-
dent Assad in an attempt to get
the Syrian-Israeli peace talks
moving again.
But in the end, he said, the im-
passe between the two countries
remained — largely because of
Mr. Assad's unwillingness to take
risks in the search for peace.
"He told me flat out: 'I am not
a risk taker," Mr. Specter said
after a shuttle mission that in-
cluded a 3 112-hour meeting with
Mr. Assad. "My assessment is
that he wants to be very sure of
where he's going before he makes
any commitments. I responded
that there are no certainties in
negotiations."
Mr. Specter, who was on a mu-
tine visit to the region, was asked
by Prime Minister Netanyahu to
carry a message to the Syrian
leader. The senator, who declined
to reveal the content of that mes-
sage, said he immediately con-
fronted Mr. Assad about
threatening Syrian troop move-
ments in recent weeks.
"I raised the question because
these troop movements had
caused a fair amount of tension,"

he said. "Assad told me that they
were purely routine. But in situ-
ations like this, it's always diffi-
cult to gauge what's going to
happen next."

Arlen Specter:
High-level talks.

The recent escalation, he said,
was caused — in part — by Mr.
Netanyahu's statement that Syr- •
ia will be held responsible for
Hezbollah actions in Southern
Lebanon.
"That has to be Netanyahu's
call," he said. "But with a state-
ment like that, you have to ex-
pect some degree of escalation.

I assured Assad that the prime
minister and Israel want to work
things out on a peaceful basis."
Mr. Specter, who has met with
Mr. Assad more than any other
American legislator, urged the
Syrian president to sit down and
talk with Mr. Netanyahu — just
as he pressed him to meet with
former Prime Minister Yitzhak
Shamir in the 1980s.
Mr. Assad's response was just
as unenthusiastic this time
around, he said.
Mr. Specter repeated what
other American officials have
said — that Mr. Assad's pride,
and his need to maintain his
strict authoritarian control, were
major impediments to the peace
process.
"What I inferred is that he's in
a tough spot," he said. "If he ne-
gotiates with Netanyahu, and
has to back up from what Peres
offered, it makes him look bad.
I told him that he could win the
Nobel Prize in Stockholm if he
made peace with Israel; he said,
`If I do that, I'll have to stay in
Stockholm."
That may be the biggest news
of all — that the dour Mr. Assad
has a sense of humor.
Mr. Specter also raised the is-
sue of Syrian support for a long
list of terror groups committed.

