Tel-Chai Nation

The son of the awful libertarian politician has made some surprisingly positive remarks about Israel lately:

From his criticism of the Federal Reserve to his mean libertarian streak, Sen. Rand Paul is certainly his father's son.

But on the issue of Israel, the Kentucky Republican falls far from the tree. Or at least, he'd like voters to think so.

The first-term senator -- whose father Ron Paul was a staunch critic of America's Israel policy and seen in some circles as outright hostile to the Jewish state -- has in recent months taken a distinctly different attitude toward the U.S.-Israel relationship.

He visited Israel in January 2013. He calls himself an Israel supporter.

And after the tragic abduction and killing of three Israeli teens in the West Bank, Paul has ratcheted up those statements of support even more.

"Let's stand with Israel," Paul told Fox News this week.

In response to the deaths of the Israeli teens, the senator who often rails against military intervention showed a hawkish side, in a blistering column that would have been unimaginable coming from his father.

In the column, published in the National Review, he criticized the Obama administration for issuing -- alongside offering its condolences -- a call for restraint.

"How many times must Israel hear this call?" Paul wrote. "Children are murdered -- please show restraint. Cafés and buses are bombed -- please show restraint. Towns are victimized by hundreds of rockets -- please show restraint while you bury your dead once again.

"I think it is clear by now: Israel has shown remarkable restraint. It possesses a military with clear superiority over that of its Palestinian neighbors, yet it does not respond to threat after threat, provocation after provocation, with the type of force that would decisively end their conflict. But sometimes restraint can work against you. Sometimes you just have to say, enough is enough."

In Washington, Paul, a potential 2016 presidential candidate, is now renewing the push for a bill that would effectively cut off aid to the Palestinian government.

While Paul should be viewed with caution on this issue, much like Marine Le Pen would inevitably have to be as well, his message here and quest with the bill are admirable, and that itself is something to be proud of. If he pushes the bill through, that will certainly be something we'll have to give him credit for.

Labels: anti-semitism, islam, Israel, jihad, United States, US Congress