MCCAIN'S PRO-ISRAEL AGENDA

McCain Speaks 
John McCain outlines a staunchly pro-Israel agenda in an interview with the Jerusalem Post. 

MCCAIN SHOWS PRO-ISRAEL CREDENTIALS

In Israel visit, McCain shows his pro-Israel credentials
By Dina Kraft

JERUSALEM (JTA) -- Wearing a white knitted kipah, U.S. Sen. John McCain stood at the Western Wall, tucked a note inside one of its crevices and pressed his hand on the ancient stone, striking an image meant to speak to American Jewish voters across the sea that he is indeed their man

McCain, the Arizona senator who is the presumptive Republican presidential nominee, spoke Wednesday of his "deep and abiding commitment to Israel" -- a theme he stressed throughout his meetings this week with Israeli leaders.

Sounding a note of commonality and understanding with his Israeli hosts, McCain said that Iran, Hamas and Hezbollah were threats not only to Israel, but to America as well.

SEE ALSO: McCain tours Sderot with Barak (JPost)
US presidential hopeful Sen. John McCain says he understands Israel's tough response to Palestinian rocket fire.

"To live with an advance notice of 15 seconds is not the way for children to celebrate Purim", said Senator John McCain Wednesday afternoon during a tour of Sderot with Defense Minister Ehud Barak.

"No nation can afford not to respond when attacked or when its citizens are attacked," added the Republican presidential candidate.

SEE ALSO: McCain Backs Israeli Reprisals in Gaza (MSNBC)
SDEROT, Israel - Touring a war-battered town, Sen. John McCain, R-Ariz., said Wednesday he understands Israel's tough response to Palestinian rocket fire, adding that there is no point in negotiating with the Gaza Strip's Islamic Hamas regime.

MCCAIN GETS WARM WELCOME IN ISRAEL

McCain gets celebrity welcome in J'lem (JPost)
US presidential hopeful John McCain received a celebrity welcome in Jerusalem Tuesday, with American tourists scrambling to shake his hand and get a souvenir snapshot.

McCain began a two-day visit with a stop at Israel's national Holocaust memorial, Yad Vashem. As his motorcade pulled up, dozens of tourists greeted him and chanted "Mac is back," while he shook their hands and posed for photographs.

McCain is on a weeklong trip to Israel, Iraq, Jordan, Britain and France. He has said the tour is a fact-finding, mission, not a campaign photo opportunity.

During his 90-minute visit at the memorial and museum, McCain was visibly moved, his eyes welling with tears as he viewed photographs from Nazi death camps.

LAST 3 (LIKELY) PRESIDENTIAL CANDIDATES SAME ON ISRAEL?

Best for Israel? (JTA)

In his latest column, New York Jewish Week editor Gary Rosenblatt says don't fool yourself – the three leading presidential candidates are the same on Israel. (read more)

JOHN MCCAIN OR HILLARY CLINTON?

Clinton or McCain? That's a tough one (Haaretz)

See also: McCain and Israel; Clinton and Israel.

A MCCAIN-LIEBERMAN TICKET?

McCain-Lieberman ticket is the buzz at Orthodox parley

LOS ANGELES (JTA) -- Radio host Michael Medved, a hardcore Republican, and political scientist David Luchins, former adviser to the late U.S. Sen. Daniel Patrick Moynihan (D-N.Y.), disagree on just about everything related to the presidential race.

Except the idea of John McCain.

In a campaign that they say is filled with adulterers, fundamentalists, crooks, bigots and wildcards, the GOP senator from Arizona is the only candidate both men say they could endorse -- especially if his running mate were Senator Joe Lieberman, the Sabbath-observant Democrat-turned-Independent who crossed party lines last week to endorse the Republican war hero.

UPDATED: JOHN MCCAIN: AMERICA A CHRISTIAN NATION TO BE LED BY CHRISTIANS

McCain: I'd Prefer Christian President (Breitbart)
WASHINGTON (AP) - Sen. John McCain said in an interview published Saturday that he would prefer a Christian president over someone of a different faith, calling it "an important part of our qualifications to lead."

In an interview with Beliefnet, a multi-denominational Web site that covers religion and spirituality, the Republican presidential hopeful was asked if a Muslim candidate could be a good president.

"I just have to say in all candor that since this nation was founded primarily on Christian principles ... personally, I prefer someone who I know who has a solid grounding in my faith," McCain said. "But that doesn't mean that I'm sure that someone who is Muslim would not make a good president."

...AND AS FOR A JEW.....

UPDATE: Jewish Groups Criticize McCain For Saying He Prefers Christian As President...

U.S. PRES. CANDIDATES ON HEZBOLLAH, SYRIA

McCain: Disarm Hizbullah, tackle Assad (JPost)
"To achieve lasting peace, sooner or later, one way or another, Hizbullah must be disarmed and its patron in Damascus confronted," according to US Presidential hopeful John McCain, who wrote to The Jerusalem Post as part of the latest installment to the 'Road to the White House' blog on JPost.com, which addressed the issue of how the US should deal with Syria.

"Lasting peace and security in Lebanon", he stressed, "must include a democratic government that has a monopoly on authority within Lebanon's borders. That means no independent militias, no Hizbullah fighters, no weapons and equipment flowing to Hizbullah across Lebanon's borders. So long as that is not the case, Hizbullah is likely to further regroup, reconstitute, and rearm."

Another presidential hopeful - Barack Obama - on the other hand, was of the opinion that a path of confrontation would not be constructive. Despite the fact that "so far, the Syrian regime has given all the wrong answers," the Illinois Senator said he "would engage Syria in direct bilateral talks while insisting on our core demands."

According to Obama, "The Democrat hopeful accused the Bush administration of issuing "empty threats" against Assad. "[The Administration] has eschewed bilateral talks on the full range of issues and failed to present a convincing roadmap to a different kind of relationship."

To read the answers in full, including those of Senator Hillary Clinton, Senator Joe Biden and former Senator John Edwards, click here.

JPOST ASKS U.S. PRES. CANDIDATES ABOUT EDUCATION

'The Road to the White House' (JPost)
Question #5: The cost of education has become almost unaffordable for parents who send their children to parochial schools, Jewish or other. No one is asking for the state to pay for religious studies. Americans want to keep Church and state separate. But what is your platform/plan/program to assist parents who want their children to have a religious as well as secular education?

Contributors:
Governor Bill Richardson of New Mexico (D)
Senator Hillary Rodham Clinton of New York (D)
Senator Barack Obama of Illinois (D)
Senator Joe Biden of Delaware (D)
Former Senator John Edwards of North Carolina (D)
Senator John McCain of Arizona (R)

Click here to read the answers>>>

U.S. PRES. CANDIDATES ON HOW TO DEAL WITH GAZA

The Road to the White House #4: How to deal with Gaza (JPost)
What would be your policy on Gaza's transformation into an Iranian-influenced "Hamastan"? Isolation? Engagement with Hamas? Encouraging Mahmoud Abbas to rebuild ties to Hamas, or to try and wrest back physical control?...

Senator Hillary Rodham Clinton of New York (D)
Senator Sam Brownback of Kansas (R)
Senator Barack Obama of Illinois (D)
Senator John McCain of Arizona (R)
Senator Joe Biden of Delaware (D)

Click here to read the answers

3 GOP CONTENDERS WOULD NUKE IRAN TO SAVE ISRAEL

GOP contenders: Nuke threat justifies strike (JTA)
The threat of a nuclear strike against Israel would justify a military strike on Iran, three Republican candidates for president said.

"The tripwire is that if they acquire these weapons and our intelligence tells us that this is a real threat to the State of Israel, to other states in the region," Sen. John McCain (R-Ariz.) said Thursday evening on MSNBC in the first debate of the 10 candidates seeking the Republican presidential nomination. McCain cited a scenario where Iran was ready to hand a nuclear weapon to a terrorist group.

Two candidates, former New York City Mayor Rudy Giuliani and U.S. Rep. Tom Tancredo (R-Colo.), were asked what they would do if the Israeli prime minister called to say that Israel was about to strike Iran and wanted American help. Both candidates said they'd say "yes," provided they knew Iran was ready to strike Israel.

"If there is a threat to the existence of the State of Israel, which is by the way I think a potential threat to the existence of the United States, then you have to come to the aid of Israel," Tancredo said.

Giuliani said he would seek to confirm the claim with U.S. intelligence.

"It really depends on what our intelligence says," he said. "The reality is, the use of military force against Iran would be very dangerous, very provocative; the only thing worse would be Iran being a nuclear power."

JEWISH INSTITUTE FOR NATIONAL SECURITY AFFAIRS GIVES AWARD TO MCCAIN

JINSA Bestows Distinguished Service Award Upon Senator John McCain (JINSA)
JINSA’s 24th annual Henry M. “Scoop” Jackson Distinguished Service Award was conferred upon Senator John McCain on December 5, 2006. Mr. Mike Ryan, Executive Vice President for Government Business of Rolls-Royce North America Inc., the evening’s major corporate sponsor, presented the award to the senator.

Through the Jackson Award, JINSA recognizes and thanks those leaders whose careers have been distinguished by the principle that is the foundation of JINSA’s work; the belief that the United States requires a strong military capability for both its own security and for that of trustworthy friends and allies. ...

Moving to policy, Sen. McCain declared that “Tehran’s continued pursuit of nuclear weapons clearly poses an unacceptable risk. Protected by a nuclear deterrent, Iran would feel unconstrained to sponsor terrorist attacks against any perceived enemy.” The Senator also had strong words for Palestinian leaders who say they desire peace but wage a terror war against Israel and for American leaders who would push Israel to engage with such terrorists. “No American leader should be expected to sell a false peace to our democratic ally, consider Israel’s right to self-defense less legitimate than ours, or insist that Israel negotiate a political settlement while terrorism remains its adversaries’ favored bargaining tool.”

Sen. McCain also discussed the situation in Lebanon and along Israel’s northern border. “Israel’s chance for peace with its northern neighbor resides in a Lebanon whose government has a monopoly on authority within its country. That means no independent militias, no Hezbollah fighters, no weapons and equipment flowing to Hezbollah. It means bolstering the security of Lebanon’s borders and ensuring that Hezbollah is not deployed in the south.” Summing it up, the senator declared, “There is one bottom line: to achieve peace, sooner or later, Hezbollah must be disarmed.”