RUTH KING

We are repeatedly told by pundits, legislators and think tankers that solving the Israel/Arab dispute is the paramount challenge facing the world today. Given its supposed centrality, the issue was strangely absent from debate in these Presidential elections.

In 2004 both the Democratic and Republican Platforms pledged commitment to Israel’s security, called a return to the 1949 lines unrealistic, stated that Arab Palestinian refugees should have no "right of return," and declared Jerusalem must remain the undivided capital of Israel. The Republican platform called terror attacks against Israel part of the same evil as the September 11 attacks on the United States, and issued a resounding condemnation of anti-Semitism. Both platforms supported the creation of an independent Arab state in the sliver of land between Israel and Jordan and both parties called for a responsible Palestinian Arab leadership that disavowed terror.

With the election moving into its final phase, supporters of a safe Israel have the obligation to demand the candidates answer some tough questions--that they go beyond the perfunctory sweet talk about our “special relationship” with Israel.

Here is a baker’s dozen of such questions to ask John McCain and Barack Obama.

1) Are you committed to the principles of your party as set out in 2004? Are there any additions or deletions you might make in view of the events of the last four years?

2) In view of the catastrophic results of Israel’s withdrawal from Gaza (including the terrorist rule of Hamas) are you willing to renounce demands for further Israeli withdrawals?

3) How can you reconcile a vow to keep Israel’s qualitative edge within so called secure borders without opposing a two state solution which imperils Israel as well as Jordan?

4) What, in your view, is the root of Arab terrorism and the Mideast war and what is the role of Islam in the Arab/Israel conflict?

5) Are you aware of the fact that Jordan occupies 82% of historic Palestine and is in fact an independent Arab Palestinian state?

6) Is Israel in the front line of America’s war against terror? Do you consider Israel to be America’s strongest and most dependable ally in the Middle East and do you consider any threat to the existence of Israel to potentially threaten us as well?

7) Is an undivided Jerusalem Israel’s capital and how soon would you relocate the American embassy there?

8) Do you consider Saudi Arabia, Egypt, or any members of OPEC and the Arab League to be dependable “moderate allies?” Can you name a single nation in those organizations that are real democracies with respect for human rights and minorities?

9) Are you concerned about the growing and coercive influence of Islamic organizations such as CAIR and the Moslem Brotherhood on American institutions and would you favor a curb on immigration from Moslem nations that fund terrorism?

10) Are you in favor of our State and Defense Departments’ ban on the use of the words Jihad and “Islamic” in policy formulation?

11) Do you think that oil rich nations should be barred from funding our academies and establishing chairs in Middle East Studies where they influence the curriculum as well as the hiring of professors?

12) Do you think that our unwillingness to exploit our own energy resources has made our Middle East policy hostage to oil kingdoms? Would you agree that achieving significantly greater energy independence is more important than solving the Arab/Israel war?

13) Given our rather lame response to Russian aggression in Georgia, can you ask Israel to take existential risks in exchange for American guarantees?

Unfortunately, the candidates take softball questions and respond with soft people-pleaser answers. Supporters of Israel in the Jewish community raise millions for their candidates without taking the time to educate them and ask serious questions. They declare their choice a “true friend of Israel” based on nebulous professions of good will.

These are parlous times. If we don’t ask we won’t know, nor will the candidates realize how important this issue is to us.