The campus demonstrations and ensuing controversy over Israel's war with Hamas notwithstanding, support of Israel still packs a political punch with Republicans.
This was made clear Tuesday in the Republican primary for Congress from Indiana's 8th District (Evansville). In a decisive outcome, state Senate Majority Leader Mark Messmer won a three-way race with 38.5% of the vote, with runner-up and former seven-term Rep. John N. Hostettler drawing 19%.
The big victory was something of a surprise. Not only was Hostettler a well-known former congressman but his son Matt is a popular state representative.
Most Hoosier sources agree that a key to the elder Hostettler's big defeat was his past criticism of Israel and the strong (and well-funded) opposition to him generated by pro-Israel groups.
In 2000, then-Rep. Hostettler was one of the few Republicans in Congress to oppose a resolution of solidarity with Israel. He was an outspoken opponent of President George W. Bush's strike on Iraq in 2003. In a memoir written four years later entitled "Nothing for The Nation: Who Got What Out of Iraq," the former congressman specifically singled out some of Bush's advisers "with Jewish backgrounds" for advancing the overthrow of Iraqi strongman Saddam Hussein on questionable evidence he had weapons of mass destruction.
Hostettler had also voted several times in Congress against aid to Israel, leading Republican Jewish Coalition head Matt Brooks to denounce him as one of the leading Republican opponents of Israel. RJC Victory Fund, the group's political action committee, deployed an estimated $950,000 in the 8th District to support Messmer.
In addition, the United Democracy Project, a super PAC affiliated with the American Israel Public Affairs Committee, poured an estimated $1.2 million into the 8th to defeat Hostettler.
Hostettler's candidacy was a unique case, as most Republican House Members and GOP candidates for the House are strong supporters of Israel. In March, a Gallup poll found that 64% of Republicans approve of Israel's military actions, compared with 18% of Democrats and 29% of independents.
John Gizzi is chief political columnist and White House correspondent for Newsmax. For more of his reports, Go Here Now.
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