A question most often asked in the Israeli government is whether a win by the Democratic Party in congressional elections would accelerate expected changes in U.S. policy in the Middle East.

If Democrats carry out campaign promises and pressure the U.S. to expedite a withdrawal from Iraq, there would be significant ramifications for Israel. It is universally understood that a U.S. withdrawal would be viewed by the Arab world as a defeat of the West, and stimulate a renewed spirit of warfare by all of Israel’s Arab adversaries, which would include the Palestinian Authority.

Jordan, which maintains a much more stable peace treaty with Israel than the Jewish state has witnessed with Egypt, would suddenly feel a new threat on its eastern and northern front, from Iraq and Syria respectively, with Iran lurking in the background.

Meanwhile, Israeli policy makers have not lost sight of the fact that two of Israel’s harshest critics, James Baker and Lee Hamilton, the two principal proponents of the Iraq Study Group, are indeed expected to present recommendations for the U.S. military presence in Iraq later in November. This group is expected to advise the U.S. government that Israel must make wide-ranging concessions to the Palestinian Authority and to Syria, with or without reciprocity.

Prime Minister Ehud Olmert plans to meet President George Bush in Washington on November 13 in a discussion expected to focus on Iran’s nuclear program, Syria, Egypt and the Palestinian Authority.

Israel is still reeling from U.S. Secretary of State Condeleezza Rice’s decision to provide arms and support for the Fatah organization, despite the fact that the Fatah organization has done nothing to disband its Al Aksa Brigades, which continues to be defined by the U.S. State Department as a terrorist organization.

In short, Israel’s hope for a friendly U.S. Congress at this time cannot be understated at this time, to act as a check and balance against those forces in Washington who could care less about Israel’s fate and future.

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David Bedein
David Bedein
David Bedein is an MSW community organizer and an investigative journalist.   In 1987, Bedein established the Israel Resource News Agency at Beit Agron to accompany foreign journalists in their coverage of Israel, to balance the media lobbies established by the PLO and their allies.   Mr. Bedein has reported for news outlets such as CNN Radio, Makor Rishon, Philadelphia Inquirer, Los Angeles Times, BBC and The Jerusalem Post, For four years, Mr. Bedein acted as the Middle East correspondent for The Philadelphia Bulletin, writing 1,062 articles until the newspaper ceased operation in 2010. Bedein has covered breaking Middle East negotiations in Oslo, Ottawa, Shepherdstown, The Wye Plantation, Annapolis, Geneva, Nicosia, Washington, D.C., London, Bonn, and Vienna. Bedein has overseen investigative studies of the Palestinian Authority, the Expulsion Process from Gush Katif and Samaria, The Peres Center for Peace, Peace Now, The International Center for Economic Cooperation of Yossi Beilin, the ISM, Adalah, and the New Israel Fund.   Since 2005, Bedein has also served as Director of the Center for Near East Policy Research.   A focus of the center's investigations is The United Nations Relief and Works Agency for Palestine Refugees in the Near East (UNRWA). In that context, Bedein authored Roadblock to Peace: How the UN Perpetuates the Arab-Israeli Conflict - UNRWA Policies Reconsidered, which caps Bedein's 28 years of investigations of UNRWA. The Center for Near East Policy Research has been instrumental in reaching elected officials, decision makers and journalists, commissioning studies, reports, news stories and films. In 2009, the center began decided to produce short movies, in addition to monographs, to film every aspect of UNRWA education in a clear and cogent fashion.   The center has so far produced seven short documentary pieces n UNRWA which have received international acclaim and recognition, showing how which UNRWA promotes anti-Semitism and incitement to violence in their education'   In sum, Bedein has pioneered The UNRWA Reform Initiative, a strategy which calls for donor nations to insist on reasonable reforms of UNRWA. Bedein and his team of experts provide timely briefings to members to legislative bodies world wide, bringing the results of his investigations to donor nations, while demanding reforms based on transparency, refugee resettlement and the demand that terrorists be removed from the UNRWA schools and UNRWA payroll.   Bedein's work can be found at: www.IsraelBehindTheNews.com and www.cfnepr.com. A new site,unrwa-monitor.com, will be launched very soon.

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