Hillary Clinton on War & Peace
Urged President to veto UN condemnation of Israel
LAZIO: When the US failed to use its veto, in the UN Security Council [which condemned Israel’s response to Palestinian protests] - that was one of the great mistakes of the last few years, and I spoke out immediately. I’m sure that Mrs. Clinton had a
chance to speak with the president about this, to urge him not to use that veto. I would love to know what the context of the discussion was.Q: Did you urge him to use it?
CLINTON: That was what I urged my husband to do. He made a different decision
Source: (X-ref Lazio) NY Senate debate on NBC
Oct 28, 2000
Cut off US aid if Palestine declares a state unilaterally
Q: In recent weeks, scores of people have been killed in the Middle East. In view of what’s happened, do you think there should be a Palestinian state now?CLINTON: Only as part of a comprehensive peace agreement. That’s always been my position, that
[it should] guarantee Israel’s safety and security and the parties should agree at the negotiating table. A unilateral declaration is absolutely unacceptable and it would mean the end of any US aid.
LAZIO: That’s a change of heart for Mrs. Clinton,
because back in 1998 you called for a Palestinian state. You undercut the Israeli negotiating position. The people of New York want to have somebody who has a consistent record. For eight years I have been consistent and strong in my support for the
security of the state of Israel. Without equivocation. Without a question mark next to my name.
CLINTON: There is no question mark next to me. There’s an exclamation point. I am an emphatic, unwavering supporter of Israel’s safety and security.
Source: NY Senate debate on NBC
Oct 28, 2000
Returned money from organization associated with terrorists
LAZIO [to Clinton]: When you accept contributions from people that support Hamas, when they’re your guests at the White House, when you cavort with terrorists, you send a message to the Palestinian Authority that encourages violence to be used as a tool
to achieve political ends.Q: Wait a minute. Didn’t your presidential candidate, George W. Bush, also accept contributions?
LAZIO: It’s absolutely wrong for all. The difference, though, on top of receiving the contributions, is that people who
support the Hamas terrorist group, have been invited and courted at the White House, which I think is wrong.
CLINTON: I learned that an organization claimed credit for sponsoring a fund-raiser I attended; an organization whose members have made
statements that I find offensive and have condemned. And as soon as I found out the facts, I returned all of the money that was raised because I did not want anyone to have a false impression about my strong support for Israel’s safety and security.
Source: (X-ref Lazio) NY Senate debate on NBC
Oct 28, 2000
Focuses on increasing relationship between US and Israel
LAZIO [to Hillary]: It’s very hard to accept a claim of consistency [on Israel] when you called for a Palestinian state with full military powers. It’s difficult to accept that you are a consistent supporter when you stand on the sidelines while Suha
Arafat issues a blood libel suggesting that Israelis have been orchestrating an attack on Palestinian women and children with poison. It’s hard for us to imagine you’ve been a consistent supporter when you refused to support the law which says that we
should move our embassy to Jerusalem, not next year, but right now. For eight years I’ve wanted the embassy to be placed in Jerusalem. CLINTON: My positions for more than 20 years have been to do everything I could to support Israel and to increase the
relationships between the US and Israel. I’ve worked on everything from the National Council of Jewish Women’s program to bring a preschool instruction program for children of the US, to speaking out, time and time again, about violence and terrorism.
Source: (X-ref Lazio) NY Senate debate on NBC
Oct 28, 2000
US should have vetoed biased anti-Israel UN resolution
Q: Did the U.S. do right to abstain from the UN’s anti-Israel resolution? CLINTON: We should have vetoed it. It was one-sided. It did not address the violence that I believe is fomented by Arafat. It did not address what Israel has tried to do, such
as pulling out of Lebanon. We’re seeing the capture of Israeli soldiers, the desecration of Joseph’s tomb. It’s imperative that Arafat end the violence and get back to negotiating. The US remains the guarantor of Israel’s security, and in the Senate, I
would certainly be a strong voice for doing whatever was required. I’ve also called for conditioning aid to the Palestinians on their willingness to end violence, on their willingness to rid their textbooks of anti-Semitic and anti-Israeli statements.
LAZIO: I did issue a statement immediately expressing my strong disappointment with America not using its veto power. I do not support call for a Palestinian state. My record is one of 100% consistency for the security of the state of Israel.
Source: Senate debate in Manhattan
Oct 8, 2000
Pollard committed a crime, but use of secret evidence unfair
Q: Jonathan Pollard, the American naval officer who betrayed the country, was sentenced to life for espionage and treason. The secretary of defense, the secretary of state, the director of the FBI and the head of the CIA have all said do not pardon him.
Do you support clemency for Mr. Pollard? CLINTON: What Pollard did was a terrible crime against the US. It was a great breach of trust and national security and he plead guilty, was convicted and is serving a very long prison term. The question for me
is around the due process issues concerning the way that he was sentenced. It is something that I have questions about and I believe that fair-minded people should ask similar questions. There was secret evidence put in before the court that has never
been revealed.
LAZIO: The only person who is in a position to make that decision and the only person who’s got the authority to actually issue a pardon is the president himself.
Source: Clinton-Lazio debate, Buffalo NY
Sep 13, 2000
Support Israel in finding a safe and secure peace
Hillary Clinton supports a move [of the US embassy in Israel from Tel Aviv to Jerusalem]. She spoke more generally yesterday about what she called her longstanding respect for the country and its people. “The United States has been and
will be always there for Israel,” she said. “And we will always support the Israeli government and Israeli people as they struggle to find a safe and secure peace.” She stayed away from more controversial topics, such as whether there should be an
independent Palestinian state. Mrs. Clinton angered many Jewish voters last year with when she voiced support for such a state. But the animosity felt by some in the crowd toward Mrs. Clinton was evident on nearly every block, with some holding signs
recalling her embrace last year of Yasir Arafat’s wife, Suha.
Source: Associated Press in NY Times
May 26, 2000
Extend peace treaties to Palestinians, Syrians & Lebanese
The message of Oslo [was]: How we can fulfill Rabin’s legacy by bidding farewell to generations of war and ushering in a new century of real and lasting peace? The same
must be true on all of Israel’s borders so that the peace that now covers some will be a peace that extends to all-Palestinians, Syrians and Lebanese.
Source: Remarks at Tel Aviv Performing Arts Center
Nov 11, 1999
Yugoslav involvement good on both moral & strategic grounds
Hillary Clinton called for the US to reject isolationism and aggressively engage itself in world affairs in the tradition of President Truman at the end of WWII. She cited American involvement in Bosnia and Kosovo as examples of foreign
engagements she favored on moral and strategic ground, but also suggested that Americans needed to consider becoming involved in solving crises that are not only military in nature.
Source: Dean Murphy, NY Times
Oct 20, 2000
Urged president to bomb Serbians
On March 21, 1999, Hillary expressed her views by phone to the President: “I urged him to bomb.” The Clintons argued the issue over the next few days. [The President expressed] what-ifs: What if bombing promoted more executions? What if it took apart the
NATO alliance? Hillary responded, “You cannot let this go on at the end of a century that has seen the major holocaust of our time. What do we have NATO for if not to defend our way of life?” The next day the President declared that force was necessary.
Source: Hillary’s Choice by Gail Sheehy, p. 345
Dec 9, 1999
Kosovo’s unified message: We will not turn away
I’ve met people who are determined to rebuild Kosovo with a sense of positive energy and not vindictiveness and retribution. This has been possible because our nations-our leaders and our citizens-stood up against evil. Now there are some who I
know who would quibble with my use of that word, but I think it fully describes the conflict we have been waging these last few months. The many democracies that came together to wage this battle against Milosevic may have spoken different languages
and even held different political views. But they have sent a unified message at the end of this century that says we will not turn away when human beings are cruelly expelled, or when they are denied basic rights and dignities because
of how they look or how they worship. When crimes against humanity rear their ugly heads, we have to send such a message as an international community.
Source: Remarks at The Sorbonne, Paris, France
Jun 17, 1999