Fox's Your World onscreen text: "The #1 President On Mideast Matters: George W. Bush?"
Summary: On Your World, during a segment in which Jonathan S. Tobin, the executive editor of The Jewish Exponent, chastised Jimmy Carter and Bill Clinton for "appeas[ing] the Arabs and try[ing] to pressure Israel not to take military advantage or not to defend itself fully," the onscreen text read: "The #1 President On Mideast Matters: George W. Bush?"
During the August 14 edition of Fox News' Your World, in a segment asking which U.S. president has had the most effective Mideast policy, the onscreen text read: "The #1 President On Mideast Matters: George W. Bush?" Jonathan S. Tobin, the executive editor of The Jewish Exponent -- a weekly newspaper "committed to ... providing the greater Philadelphia region with the best in Jewish journalism every week" -- who was interviewed on the program by host Neil Cavuto, chastised former Presidents Jimmy Carter and Bill Clinton for "appeas[ing] the Arabs and try[ing] to pressure Israel not to take military advantage or not to defend itself fully." Tobin then praised President Bush for "having Israel's back" during its conflict with Hezbollah but asserted that the responsibility for any potential Israeli failures during the conflict do not "lie on President Bush." He added that Bush "gave Israel the green light" to continue its military campaign against Hezbollah and "hasn't tried to play the same game that ... President Clinton did with [late Palestinian leader] Yasser Arafat, inviting him to the White House constantly and trying to raise the ante for Israel."
From the August 14 edition of Fox News' Your World with Neil Cavuto:
CAVUTO: All right. Well, first, the cease-fire -- now the credit. Many critics were betting that President Bush would fail the test on the Israel and Hezbollah conflict, not my next guest. Jonathan Tobin says that this president's handling of the Mideast is the best this generation has seen by far. He's executive editor of The Jewish Exponent. So, this president is better on the Middle East than Jimmy Carter or Bill Clinton? Explain.
TOBIN: I think it's pretty easy to see why. Unlike President Carter and certainly President Clinton, who is the immediate past example, President Bush has gotten rid of some of the failed policies of the past, which, whenever there has been a crisis involving Israel and its Arab enemies, has -- the instinct has always been to appease the Arabs and try and pressure Israel not to take a military advantage or not to defend itself fully.
What we've seen in the last month is an example of President Bush having Israel's back. If Israel's military efforts in the last month have not resulted in a resounding victory, and like most Americans, Jewish and non-Jewish, I've been certainly rooting for them -- and it doesn't look as if it's been a resounding victory. But the responsibility of that doesn't lie on President Bush. He gave Israel the green light it needed to do what it thought it needed to do and hasn't tried to play the same game that -- with -- as President Clinton did with Yasser Arafat, inviting him to the White House constantly and trying to raise the ante for Israel. That's just not the way it's gone.
—B.A.
