More Neocon Quotes

More neocon quotes from Philip Weiss' blog:

There was, to be sure, one thing that many of even the most passionately committed American Zionists were reluctant to do, and that was to face up to the fact that continued American support for Israel depended upon continued American involvement in international affairs-- from which it followed that an American withdrawal into the kind of isolationist mood that prevailed most recently between the two world wars, and that now looked as though it might soon prevail again, represented a direct threat to the security of Israel. [PW emphasis]

Norman Podhoretz, neocon godfather, writing about the centralness of Israel, in Breaking Ranks (1979).

"One major factor that drew [the first-generation neo-cons] inexorably to the right was their attachment to Israel and their growing frustration during the 1960s with a Democratic party that was becoming increasingly opposed to American military preparedness and increasingly enamored of Third World causes [e.g., Palestinian rights]. In the Reaganite right's hard-line anti-communism, commitment to American military strength, and willingness to intervene politically and militarily in the affairs of other nations to promote democratic values (and American interests), neocons found a political movement that would guarantee Israel's security."

(Benjamin Ginsberg, The Fatal Embrace (1993), p. 231)

"I’ve always thought it was best for Israel for the U.S. to be generally engaged and generally strong, and then the commitment to Israel follows from a general foreign policy."

(William Kristol to the Jerusalem Post, July 27, 2000)

The last one essentially admits that the other foreign policy issues are essentially "cover" for support for Israel.