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Pro-Israeli Rally in Washington

Aired April 15, 2002 - 13:22   ET

THIS IS A RUSH TRANSCRIPT. THIS COPY MAY NOT BE IN ITS FINAL FORM AND MAY BE UPDATED.

THIS IS A RUSH TRANSCRIPT. THIS COPY MAY NOT BE IN ITS FINAL FORM AND MAY BE UPDATED.
BILL HEMMER, CNN ANCHOR: Back here in Jerusalem, want to take you to Washington now and CNN's Kate Snow is watching that rather large pro-Israeli rally take shape now. It was expected to begin several minutes ago. We go to Kate right now to get an update on what's happening there in D.C. -- Kate.

KATE SNOW, CNN CONGRESSIONAL CORRESPONDENT: Hi, Bill.

Well tens of thousands of people expected here today. I can tell you the crowd is very large already, probably thousands of people out behind me right in front of the U.S. Capitol. The Capitol's directly behind your camera there. We're looking down the U.S. National Mall here in Washington.

People are holding signs. They've come from all over the United States. Some of the signs that I've seen say Israel, we support your war on terrorism, yes to peace, no to terror. Another said U.S. and Israel united, and that's the message that we're getting from most of the folks who have come out here today.

I was talking to some of them. One gentleman from New York said to me look, when President Bush last fall said you're either for us or against us in terms of terrorism, we want to show him today that we're for the president. That's the message coming from some of the crowd here.

They've just heard from a rabbi a moment ago offering some words of prayer. Before that, they had a moment of silence in respect of all of the Israeli soldiers who have fallen.

Now some of the speakers that we expect this afternoon, Bill, include the former Prime Minister of Israel, Benjamin Netanyahu, also the former mayor of New York, Rudy Giuliani. A couple of members of Congress will be speaking, Dick Gephardt, the Democratic leader, Dick Armey, the Republican leader of the House, and also several senators will speak. Senator Harry Reid, Arlen Specter and Barbara Mikulski will be speaking here later this afternoon. And then finally, also speaking today Nobel Peace -- Nobel Literary Prize Winner Elly Wizel (ph). All of this expected to last several hours this afternoon, Bill.

It's quite a scene here. There are several buses that are apparently stuck in traffic. I'm told that a lot of them haven't been able to get here yet. So they think the crowds are going to get even bigger this afternoon, as I mentioned, perhaps tens of thousands of people all coming out in support of Israel trying to show, as one said to me, trying to show that they're in solidarity with the country of Israel. This message they say is meant for the people of Israel.

Back to you, Bill.

HEMMER: All right, Kate, thanks. Kate Snow in Washington.

Let's keep it in Washington, to our bureau right now and Ron Brownstein of the "L.A. Times" joins us now to talk more about the power of the Jewish lobby on Capitol Hill. Ron, we say good afternoon to you.

We know it's strong. It has been strong for some time. But curious to know, have you been able to gauge what kind of influence is exerted right now in Washington that may or may not influence you as policy to this point?

RON BROWNSTEIN, "L.A. TIMES": You know, interestingly, Bill, you could argue, the driving force in American policies of Israel in recent years has not been any particular movement among Jewish voter and Jewish lobbyists.

You think of traditionally the Democratic Party, of the two major parties being traditionally the more pro-Israel, more willing to support Israel unequivocally and Jewish voters have strongly supported the Democratic party over the years. Even through the '90s about 80 percent of Jewish voters voted for Bill Clinton and Al Gore.

What happened though is that the Republican Party has become more strongly pro-Israel over the last generation. The view in the Republican Party used to be pretty much our sympathies were with Israel, but our interest where with the Arab nations and now you see the Republican Party really astonishingly pro-Israel just about as the Democratic Party.

That's largely because of other forces, especially conservative Christians, religion conservative who are very strongly pro-Israel themselves and now you see in both parties, even though there really isn't much Jewish influence in the Republican Party except at the intellectual level, with the so-called neo-conservatives, both parties now really have a strong pro-Israel bent.

HEMMER: Given that answer, then, have you been able to see how the government has responded given to this issue? I think of Benjamin Netanyahu, the former Israeli prime minister, talking with lawmakers last week in Washington. Have you seen tangible of evidence how the government has responded given the strength here?

BROWNSTEIN: Yes, I do -- I think -- at the margin the pressure on Bush is always to be supportive of what Sharon wants to do. If you look within his own party, right now there is very little of that traditional sentiment that says the U.S. should be more of an honest broker and keep its distance from Israel.

Both, as I mentioned, the neo-conservatives, the foreign party intellectuals, who moved into the Republican Party around Ronald Reagan, we are now up to the second generation. Paul Wolfowitz, a representative of that group, apparently is going to be speaking there this afternoon. Last week many of them wrote a letter to Bush urging him to give Sharon a free hand.

We saw some of the leading evangelical Christians, Jerry Falwell and Gary Bauer, who ran in the 2000 primaries against Bush, also wrote a letter last week calling on Bush to give free hand. Obviously Bush can't go as far as any of these groups would like in sanctioning a military solution. He has obviously put some pressure on Sharon to withdraw, but not nearly as much as you might expect given his remarks of about 10 days ago.

I think, Bill, clearly within his own coalition at the margin, he always faces pressure to allow Israel to respond the way it sees fit. Now, again you can't give them a blank check, but that is the pressure he faces.

HEMMER: Give me a broader perspective, Ron. The Jewish lobby certainly has strength, we mentioned that. Can you put into perspective for other lobby groups? And there is significant pressure and size from other parts of the American economy, the business lobby, things of that nature. How does it rank?

BROWNSTEIN: Well, on their own issue they do very well. I don't know if you compare it to the petroleum or chemical industry or any other. But really you can compare it against itself, and they do very well on their own issue. Looks also, Bill, public opinion matters here, too. And the current wave of terror that began in 2000 really has hardened American public opinion.

You see very low approval ratings for Yasser Arafat. A very strong, over 3-1, I think, in the last poll I saw. Americans saying that Israel is justified in responding militarily, although there is a great deal of skepticism about Israel's commitment to the peace process under this government as well.

Right now in the political system itself there really isn't a major voice in other direction, that traditional conservative Republican view that said we had to keep our distance has really been muted, and so has the left on the Democratic side. The pro-peace process, Jewish left in the U.S. has grown much more pessimistic about the prospect of the negotiating with Arafat. You don't really see nearly as much of that as you might expect under a Sharon government pursuing this kind of offensive.

I think all of the incentives in the system for all the politicians is really toward allowing Israel a fairly broad free hand in responding militarily to this. Again, not complete free hand. But at the margin it pushes in that direction.

HEMMER: You raise a very interesting prospect here. Give me a sense in contrast, how strong is the Palestinian voice in Washington?

BROWNSTEIN: I think not nearly as strong. Certainly they would seem to have more influence in European countries than here. Right now I think between public opinion, the entrenched begin -- to begin with where the baseline lobbying power begins and also the inclinations, as I say, of these powerful and influential groups within the Republican coalition.

Right now the pressure is clearly toward a greater leaning toward Israel. Now, against that is the fact that there are genuine American interests in avoiding an all-out conflict here. I mean part of the reason Bush got involved after resisting for so long was that it was clearly in the American interest, not necessarily in the Israeli or the Palestinian interest for us to be involved in trying to tamp down this dispute to keep our relations solid, or at least relatively solid with other Arab nations and to keep the coalition against terror relatively coherent.

HEMMER: Given your answers, no surprise that rally is taking place in Washington, D.C. right at the foot of the capitol building. Ron, thanks, very interesting insight. Ron Brownstein, "L.A. Times" and a CNN contributor back there in our bureau in Washington.

BROWNSTEIN: Thank you.

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