Would US-Israel Relations Be Different If Paul Wellstone Had Lived?

The charge that he was weak on Israel greatly upset the Jewish senator, according to Steve Silberfarb, director of the Jewish Community Relations Council of Minnesota and the Dakotas.

"Nothing angered him more," he said. "That really got under his skin."

When he died at age 58 in a tragic plane crash in Eveleth, Minn. -- along with his wife; Sheila, 58; his daughter, Marcia; three campaign staffers; and two pilots -- the two-term senator was hailed in Jewish circles for being one of the Senate's strongest supporters of Israel.

In recent years he signed or co-sponsored various congressional letters in support of Israel, including one to President Bush criticizing Arafat and urging the administration not to meet with Arafat until the Palestinians ended violence against Israel.

Wellstone also supported moving the U.S. Embassy from Tel Aviv to Jerusalem.

In remembering Wellstone, most of his admirers, like JCRC's Silberfarb, recalled that he spoke passionately about the environment, health care and social justice, all issues that reflect moral teachings of Judaism.

Well known for his liberal views, Wellstone voted against the bill authorizing the use of military force against Iraq -- a bill that won easy passage in both the House and Senate.

"In private or in public, he was really the same person," Silberfarb said. "He stuck to his guns."

Before coming to Washington, Wellstone was a community activist who taught for 21 years at Carleton College. He was born on July 21, 1944, the son of Russian immigrants, and raised in Arlington, Va. He married the former Sheila Ison in 1963, and the couple had three children. They are survived by two sons, David and Mark, and six grandchildren.


(Staff Writer Joe Berkofsky contributed to this report.)

http://www.haaretz.com

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