Israel Draws Little US Ire: "WSJ" article

Mideast
Israel Draws Little U.S. Ire
By GERALD F. SEIB


WHEN SECRETARY of State Condoleezza Rice heads to the Middle East next week, she'll be coping with a lot of pressures: a Lebanese government desperate for help to end the current fighting there, an Israeli government determined to smash Hezbollah's military structure before it stops the conflict, and Arab allies so fearful of their own publics' anger over the fighting that they have decided to meet Secretary Rice in Rome rather than in an Arab capital.

Most surprising, though, is one kind of pressure she won't be feeling: There is little public outcry back home in the U.S. to compel Israel to pull back. This is the dog that isn't barking in the current crisis, giving President Bush and his secretary of state a considerably freer hand in responding -- and in pursuing their staunch support of Israel -- than they might have expected.

This stands in stark contrast to the situation the last time this script played out, when Israel invaded Lebanon in 1982. At that time, President Ronald Reagan -- like Mr. Bush, no slouch when it came to supporting Israel -- felt enormous domestic political pressure to force Israeli Prime Minister Menachem Begin and his defense minister, Ariel Sharon, to pull back.
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Finally, though it's little discussed, Christian conservatives, a powerful constituency within Mr. Bush's Republican party, have become a potent pro-Israel force on the political front in recent years. That matters to this White House.

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