JAMES BAKER AND ISRAEL NOT THE BEST OF FRIENDS    
Wednesday , January 07, 2004

James Baker, a former secretary of state who was noted for his strained relations with Israel and with American Jewry, is back on the front-page of Middle East affairs.

Could this create trouble in the 2004 election? It could!

James Baker III is a Texas oilman and long line friend of the Bush family. President George Bush recently tapped him to be his “personal envoy” for sorting out the question of Iraq’s debt. This took place at the same time the Bush administration decided to deduct $300 million in loan guaranties to the Sharon government because of Israeli settlement activity.

Baker was the Secretary of State during the first Bush Presidency and there were difficult relations between Washington and Jerusalem especially over settlements. At one point in 1991, Baker declared Ariel Sharon who was Israel’s housing minister at the time, persona-non-grata in Washington. Baker also made disparaging remarks regarding Jews in a conversation regarding Middle East policy.

Morton Klein, President of the Zionist Organization and a frequent critic of the Bush administration handling of Israel and who opposes Israeli concessions to the Palestinians had these words to say: “The influence of James Baker is a factor in Bush’s pressure on Israel to reduce its military response to terror, in Bush’s refusal to move the embassy to Jerusalem… in his complaining about Israel’s security fence, and in his public demand for a Palestinian state…
You can be sure that his conversations with George Bush will not be limited to Iraq.”

Ira Formas, Executive Director of the National Jewish Democratic Council agreed. He said, “It is a bad sign for this administration to start relying on Jim Baker for foreign policy advice.

In an interview with Time magazine in February 1989, Baker referred to Israel
as if hunting turkey. He said, “The trick is getting them where you want them…
then you can do whatever you determine is in your interest to do.”

This is not good. We must continue to pray for good relations between the U.S. and Israel. We must pray for leaders who will not seek to divide the land.

Pray that President Bush and his cabinet would understand the significance of Jerusalem and for God’s end time purposes for Israel.

Excerpted from Intercessors for America Alert.
January 2, 2004