Friday, January 23, 2009

New New York Senator Kirsten Gillibrand: Views on Israel and the Middle East

It's hard to use Google to find information on Kirsten Gillibrand and her views on the Middle East (particularly because another candidate for her new senatorial position was named "Steve Israel"!), but here's what I can find:

*She has supported legislations on Iran sanctions

*She is not a partisan Democrat

* She posts her daily schedule online - a practice close to my heart

* You can find her voting record here

* A dozen or so of her constituents didn't like her support for Israel in the Gaza War

*And AIPAC's Near East Report from November 2006, on the 110th Congress, included this on Ms. Gillibrand:
Gillibrand has met with AIPAC activists and staff. In her position paper on the US-Israel relationship, Gillibrand wrote, "I will be an unwavering supporter of the special friendship that exists between the US and Israel and will continue to assure Israel's strategic military advantage in the region."

I'm sure that those who don't support Israel won't agree with me on this - but I'm glad to know that the new Senator supports democracy and human rights in the Middle East.

3 comments:

  1. So far, so good. But one never knows how they'll behave in office.

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  2. She sounds OK to me. I've mostly read that some (liberals) are hopping mad because she supports the NRA. If she's at that end of the spectrum, she might support Israel because strategically, from a military point of view, it's the smart thing to do.

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  3. Muse, Leora - Don't know, but I agree wholeheartedly that we never know until they are actually in office. [The same is true regarding ourselves, I might add, taking "office" more broadly...]

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