Tel-Chai Nation

The New York Sun has an editorial about John McCain and the trip he's going to be taking to Jerusalem next week, and he's actually made some very positive and responsible statements:

Next week, Mr. McCain will present himself in the flesh — not through a video relay — in Israel and other Middle East countries. He is starting off on March 18 at Jerusalem, where he is scheduled to confer with Prime Minister Olmert, Foreign Minister Livni, and Defense Minister Barak. He will also visit London and Paris. The GOP nominee-to-be just denounced the Palestinian Arab attack on students at a yeshiva in the Israeli capital, calling it a "heinous massacre" and supporting Israel's right to self-defense. His campaign issued a statement saying, "This gruesome attack once again makes clear to the world that Israel faces extremists whose cause is not peace but the slaughter of Israelis."

Mark that Mr. McCain issued no comments about a "cycle of violence," no moral equivalence, no question about which side he and America are on. Cynics will attribute this to a campaign desire to firm up support among American Jewish voters, heretofore a Democratic bastion. If so, legitimate. We are more interested in what his visit and his comments portend for the type of president he would be. On Tuesday, Mr. McCain told Reuters that if elected, he would focus on the Middle East. Until quite recently, Democrats have been criticizing the Bush administration for having swapped a focus on Israeli-Palestinian peace-making for the war in Iraq.

It's very good to see that McCain acted responsibly in what he had to say about Israel. When he comes, I hope he'll visit Mercaz Harav, as that would be a positive show of solidarity. For now, time will tell if McCain can prove himself even better than Dubya as a politician.

Labels: Israel, United States