Dennis Ross Is The Wrong Choice For Ambassador To Israel

But the policies that Ross, et al, conceived for the Bush-Baker administration spoke for themselves, including:

• The 18 months of “dialogue” with Yasser Arafat in 1989-1990, during which President George H. W. Bush and Secretary Baker refused to acknowledge PLO terrorist attacks, lest they be forced to cut off relations with Arafat.
• Baker’s constant public criticism of Israel and unrelenting pressure to halt all Jewish housing in much of Jerusalem, as well as Judea-Samaria.
• The infamous vulgarity that Baker uttered against Jews. Baker denied he said it, but the source turned out to be unimpeachable: cabinet member Jack Kemp. (In any event, Baker’s profanity obviously mirrored his policies towards Israel and Jews.)
• Bush’s notorious outburst about how he was “one lonely little guy” under siege by “powerful” Jewish lobbyists who were swarming Washington in support of humanitarian loan guarantees for Israel. AIPAC’s executive director called it a “day of infamy.” That was putting it mildly, to judge by the anti-Semitic messages of support that flooded the White House switchboard.
• The United States promise to support Israeli military action if Israel was attacked by Iraq, followed by the brutal American pressure on Israel not to strike back as Saddam’s Scud missiles rained down on Tel Aviv and Haifa.

Along the way, Bush was succeeded by Bill Clinton, yet Ross and his colleagues remained in their jobs and their bias took on new forms:

• The refusal to ever criticize Arafat and the Palestinian Authority for their constant violations of the Oslo accords.
• The refusal to extradite even one of the many Palestinian Arabs involved in the murders of American citizens.
• The grotesque attempt to orchestrate a propaganda visit by Arafat to the United States Holocaust Memorial Museum in Washington, D.C.