Hagel Met Jewish Groups

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President Barack Obama's nominee for defense secretary, former Sen. Chuck Hagel (R-Neb.), sat down at the White House Friday with Jewish leaders to discuss his views on Iran and the U.S.-Israel relationship, several Jewish groups said in a brief joint statement.

The hour-long session was "an important opportunity for a serious and thorough discussion of key issues of importance to all of us," said leaders of the Jewish groups, which included the American Israel Public Affairs Committee, the Anti Defamation League, the American Jewish Committee and the Conference of Presidents of Major Jewish Organizations.

"Senator Hagel...discussed his commitment to the U.S.-Israel relationship, including his determination to prevent Iran from acquiring a nuclear weapon, to maintaining Israel’s Qualitative Military Edge, and to sustaining the Obama Administration’s unprecedented security cooperation with Israel," said an official who asked not to be named. Hagel "appreciated the opportunity to have a constructive, informed and wide-ranging discussion," the official added.

Hagel has had a difficult relationship for years with some leaders of the pro-Israel community, stemming from his opposition to various sanctions proposals and his refusal to sign letters the groups supported. In a 2006 interview, he complained about the tactics used by what he called "the Jewish lobby" and he spoke of "the dumb things they do" that he considered unhelpful to Israel.

Vice President Joe Biden—who has a close relationship with Jewish groups and with Hagel—also attended Friday's meeting, according to an official.

J Street, a liberal Jewish organization which has been openly supportive of Hagel's nomination and which Hagel addressed in 2009, did not take part in Friday's session.

Friday's meeting appears to have been first reported by the Jewish Telegraphic Agency.

JERUSALEM—Top-ranking government officials in Jerusalem confirmed Tuesday (1/8/13) that Israel would exercise its longstanding, constitutionally granted veto power over American policy if U.S. lawmakers confirmed retired congressman Chuck Hagel as the United States’ next Secretary of Defense. 

“In light of Mr. Hagel’s worrying remarks on Israeli-Palestinian relations and questionable classification of Israeli interests as ‘the Jewish lobby,’ we consider him a highly inappropriate choice for Defense Secretary who stands far out of line with our national priorities, and therefore we are prepared to swiftly and resolutely use our official veto power over this U.S. action,” said Israeli government spokesperson Mark Regev of the legal maneuver that the small Middle Eastern nation has employed to block U.S. Cabinet nominees, U.S. legislation, U.S. international relations, and U.S. domestic policy over 1,400 times in its 64-year history. 

“Because congress does not possess the necessary nine-tenths majority to override an Israeli veto, they’ll have no choice but to head back to the drawing board and provide a Defense Secretary whom we find more suitable.” Sources confirmed that Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu had sent the White House a list of three individuals the Israeli leader considered appropriate to head the American military from which U.S. President Barack Obama could choose.