Washington Watch
Chanukah List?
Israel presents its aid request to Washington.
JAMES D. BESSER
Washington Correspondent
A
s expected; Israel has
requested a massive new
package of American aid, to
. include both outright mili-
tary assistance and loan guarantees.
Israeli newspapers have indicated
that the Bush administration and
Congress are all but certain to approve
the deal; pro-Israel activists and con-
gressional sources say getting the aid
will require an all-out lobbying effort
and some old-fashioned luck.
"Israel will get a sympathetic hear-
ing, because Israel has been a loyal ally,
and it needs help," said Rep. Eliot
Engel, D-N.Y. "But everything is going
to be a tough sell in the next Congress
because of the deficit."
The next Congress will face
unprecedented budget pressure
because of the ongoing economic
slowdown — and, according to
Democrats, because of the Bush
administration's big 2001 tax cuts. The
budget crunch is why Israel is asking
mostly for loan guarantees, in which
the government backs up private
loans, along with a yet-to-be-deter-
mined amount of additional military
aid, possibly as high as $4 billion.
Israel already gets almost $2.2 bil-
lion in military aid, with small increas-
es every year and small decreases in
economic aid, according to a formula
worked out between the two countries
during the Clinton administration.
But even when there is strong politi-
cal support for it, getting extra aid in
the current economic and political cli-
mate will be difficult.
Pro-Israel activists point out that
even a $200 million supplementary
package supported by both the Bush
administration and Congress has been
held up because of the budget crunch.
The new aid request came in a
meeting on Monday between Dov
Weisglass, a top aide to Israel Prime
Minister Ariel Sharon, and U.S.
National Security Adviser Condoleezza
Rice. Israel's U.S. ambassador, Danny
Ayalon, and Ohad Marani, the
Finance Ministry director-general and
a former economic official at the Israel
embassy in Washington, were also at
the White House meeting.
"At the meeting, the Israeli side dis-
cussed in detail the current situation
in the Israeli economy, the rising
unemployment, the ongoing defense
expenditures that will only increase if
there is an Iraq war," said an Israeli
official. "It was a good meeting; we
feel the administration is open to the
idea of helping us."
But the official said discussions are
still in the preliminary stages. "The
administration said they will look at
the request and get back to us. This is
very much the beginning of a process,
not the end."
A veteran pro-Israel lobbyist said the
economic need is real, but the huge
numbers that have appeared in recent
press accounts of the aid request may
have more to do with Israeli politics
than with the economic bottom line.
"Prime-Minister Sharon is eager to
show that he's the one who can best
manage relations with Washington,"
the Israeli official said. "What we may
be seeing now is a pattern of leaks and
trial balloons intended to impress
Israeli voters. Everybody in
Washington knows that when they
start the serious negotiations, the actu-
al totals will be much less.
GOP Tactic?
Democratic leaders and their support-
ers in the Jewish community are hud-
dling to devise strategies to keep from
getting outflanked on Israel-related
issues by Congressional Republicans.
The source of the Democratic angst:
a GOP congressional leadership that is
more hawkishly pro-Israel than ever,
and which may play the Israel card as
part of its effort to undermine their
new Democratic counterparts.
"The new (Democratic) leadership
is very much pro-Israel, but their cau-.
cus also includes liberals who aren't
ready to go along with every new reso-
lution that seems to support Ariel
Sharon or Binyamin Netanyahu," said
a Democratic congressional staffer.
"That represents a vulnerability for the
Democrats and an opportunity for the
Republicans, whose new leadership is.
very supportive of Likud positions."
Incoming House Minority Leader
Nancy Pelosi, D-Calif. , "has a very
WASHINGTON WATCH on page 26
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