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Opinion L.A.

Opinion: Rick Perry says Obama’s not pro-Israel enough

By Michael McGough
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It’s as depressing as it was inevitable. Republicans are accusing the Obama administration of selling out Israel. Texas Gov. Rick Perry says President Obama’s ‘arrogant, misguided and dangerous’ policies led to the Palestinians’ plan to request statehood at the United Nations. Pressure on Israel -- presumably to freeze settlement activity on the West Bank -- had emboldened Palestinians, Perry says. Never mind that Obama plans to veto statehood in the Security Council.

Perry is particulary shrill, but his position is the norm in Congress, which sometimes seems more pro-Israel than the Israelis. A succession of presidents, despite what they said as candidates, have tried to nudge Israel and the Palestinians to accept the only logical outcome of their conflict: peaceful coexistence, now known as the two-state solution.

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Would a President Perry likewise grow in office? I’m not confident.

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--Michael McGough

Opinion L.A.
Michael McGough

Michael McGough is the Los Angeles Times’ former senior editorial writer, based in Washington, D.C. He wrote editorials for The Times from 2006 to 2021. Before that, McGough worked for 30 years for the Pittsburgh Post-Gazette as a reporter, editorial writer, editorial page editor and Washington correspondent. He wrote about law, national security, politics, foreign policy and religion. McGough is a graduate of Allegheny College and also attended the University of Kent at Canterbury in England and Yale Law School, where he received a master of studies in law degree.

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