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Christie and the “Pro-Israel” Hawks

Politico reports that Chris Christie is pathetic: New Jersey Gov. Chris Christie apologized to Sheldon Adelson in a meeting Saturday for stepping on a fault line in Middle East politics during a speech he gave earlier in the day, according to a source familiar with the conversation. Invoking a 2012 trip he and his family […]
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Politico reports that Chris Christie is pathetic:

New Jersey Gov. Chris Christie apologized to Sheldon Adelson in a meeting Saturday for stepping on a fault line in Middle East politics during a speech he gave earlier in the day, according to a source familiar with the conversation.

Invoking a 2012 trip he and his family took to Israel, Christie recalled in the speech: “I took a helicopter ride from the occupied territories across and just felt personally how extraordinary that was to understand, the military risk that Israel faces every day.”

While the story was intended to forge common cause with Adelson and the several hundred donors to the Republican Jewish Coalition to which Christie was speaking, his use of the term “occupied territories” set off murmurs in the crowd.

In other words, Christie was eagerly trying to pander to these donors, but accidentally allowed an accurate piece of information to slip into his remarks without realizing what he had done. Just to make sure that no one would get the idea that Christie was capable of thinking for himself, he immediately retreated from saying something true because it happened to offend a wealthy fanatic. Christie wants everyone to know that he can toe absurd ideological lines as well anyone:

Instead, the source said, Christie made clear “that he misspoke when he referred to the ‘occupied territories.’ And he conveyed that he is an unwavering friend and committed supporter of Israel, and was sorry for any confusion that came across as a result of the misstatement.”

Christie’s remarks don’t matter that much on their own. The episode is another useful reminder of how obsessively “pro-Israel” hawks police discussion of Israel and Palestine in the U.S. and shows the absurd lengths to which they take that policing. It makes absolutely no difference to current or future U.S. policy what Christie called the occupied territories, his policy views on Israel are presumably hard-line and just what other hawks should like, but he still had to be made to admit his “error” and to disavow his remarks anyway.

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