Bring Over Democrats, Too

In Washington, some believe that it is about time for Obama’s first visit to Israel as president. Till then, the stream of Republicans arriving to say hello should be brought to balance.

The recess of the American Congress is also the hottest travel season. Delegations upon delegations are departing from Washington, D.C. — someone to Latin America, someone to see the United States forces in Afghanistan and someone to pamper Europe. They come to Israel, too — much more than would be proportional to its relative share based on indexes of size and influence. The advantage of these delegations: almost all of them are bipartisan. There are Democrats and Republicans in them. Shortcoming: usually they are not high-profile visits.

It’s not the visits that will manage to obscure the fact that in the last month, there were three Republican presidential candidates who toured Israel — Mike Huckabee, Mitt Romney and Haley Barbour. These visits were not the kind of events that stirred the country but the kind that managed to draw attention in America.

It’s common to think that every American presidential candidate has to stop by in Israel before he appears before the voter. But at the moment there is an issue with this custom: The Republicans have a whole lot of candidates — and almost all of them will pay a visit (Ron Paul will be the absent exception). Of particular interest will be the visit of Sarah Palin, with whom there is constant discussion concerning the possible timing and context. It’s not sure Palin will get elected to be a candidate, but everyone whom I asked bets that she’ll show up.

On the other side, the Democrats will apparently have only one candidate — President Barack Obama. He visited here before being elected, but since he was sworn in president, he has refrained from further social calls, in part because it’s not suitable for his agenda and in part because he’s not exactly feeling loved and desired. For anyone who might have forgotten, the high-ranking visit of Vice President Joe Biden didn’t go well, which is an understatement. Obama assumes that his coming will invite provocations and demonstrations as well. He has already learned that Israelis can be blunt.

Obama Avoids Lieberman

Obama has a standing invitation, a standing opportunity for the first rendezvous in an appropriate ambiance at the Israeli Presidential Conference under the auspices of President Shimon Peres in June. Just like every year, this year he’ll be invited too, and in Washington, some are positive that the time has come and that this is the proper platform for his visit. This way, Obama’s host would be the easygoing Peres, instead of less easygoing Benjamin Netanyahu.

On the other hand, what’s the rush for Obama to come specifically this summer? If he has to visit, he could also do so next year, hoping that by then, the Israeli government will change leadership and that circumstances will be created that would allow him a peaceful sojourn, without necessarily running into Foreign Minister Avigdor Lieberman.

So far — as long as Obama isn’t coming — Israel has a problem: every Republican higher-up dropping by boosts the country’s identification with hawkish policy and the right-wing agenda. That’s a tag definitely eroding the support of Democratic voters, among whom are most of the American Jews who look critically at the expressions of affection by evangelical Huckabee and the Southern Barbour, suspected of racism in their eyes.

And sure, Israel should rejoice in these stopovers but also identify the problem that has a solution: Some of the members of the Conference of Presidents of Jewish Organizations who had been here a week ago suggested politely that their Israeli friends be little more active in balancing the roster of visiting. And simply put, until Obama comes, they should initiate some more well-publicized visits of high-ranking Democrats to Benjamin Netanyahu’s office.