Dole Stirs Furor With Call to Cut Israel Aid, Divert It

Signaling a potential change in congressional sentiment, staunch pro-Israel Sen. Bob Dole (R-Kan.) called Tuesday for shifting at least $330 million in U.S. foreign aid from Israel and four other key recipients to Panama, Latin America’s drug-fighting countries and Eastern Europe’s “new democracies.”

The Senate Republican leader’s proposal in a New York Times opinion page article drew “a massive reaction from all over the world,” not the least from infuriated supporters of Israel, said Dole’s press secretary, Walt Riker.

Dole noted that Israel, Egypt, the Philippines, Turkey and Pakistan receive more than two-thirds of the $9.9 billion in U.S. foreign aid earmarked for specific countries.

“Does it make sense, at this historic moment, to provide these countries practically all of our aid at the cost of foreclosing dramatically promising new aid initiatives in Eastern Europe or other important countries?” the senator asked. “What about, for example, those Latin American nations in the front lines in the war against drugs?”

Dole said that a 5% cut in current aid programs to “the big five” would provide about $330 million--what he said would be “enough to respond to the needs of new democracies such as Poland, Hungary, Panama and countless needy countries that under current allocations will receive not one penny of American aid.”

He said that an even larger across-the-board cut and reallocation might be warranted “as the democratic revolution gains momentum.” At a news conference, he suggested that the cut could be as much as 10%.

Dole said that President Bush has the authority to reallocate up to $300 million in foreign aid, even from funds earmarked for Israel and other countries, without congressional approval. But he is not permitted to shift more than $50 million to any one recipient.

White House Press Secretary Marlin Fitzwater said the Administration supports the current level of aid for the five top recipients but also would like to have more flexibility to redistribute funds.

“That support (of Israel and the four others) has been longstanding and has been a part of Administration efforts,” Fitzwater said. “That doesn’t mean we wouldn’t like to have some money for other countries and other problems, but we just don’t have it.”

Dole said Bush told him at a White House meeting that he had read the article and “appreciated it. . . . I assume that he must have agreed with it.”

State Department spokeswoman Margaret Tutwiler wouldn’t go that far, saying only that Dole’s proposal was “something that the Administration thinks is well worth looking at . . . in light of, let’s take a for instance, the unbelievable changes that have gone on in Eastern Europe.”

But Rep. Henry A. Waxman (D-Los Angeles), who represents one of the nation’s largest Jewish constituencies, said that cutting aid to such countries as Israel and Egypt would “encourage the most irresponsible elements in such countries as Libya, Iran and Syria.”

Waxman and Sen. Howard M. Metzenbaum (D-Ohio), who also attacked the Dole plan, called for shifting money from the defense budget to pay for any increased aid to Eastern Europe and elsewhere.

“Rather than cutting funds to five of our closest allies, let’s find more money for democracy in costly, unnecessary weapons programs like SDI (the Strategic Defense Initiative), the B-2 bomber and the mobile MX missile,” Metzenbaum said.

Although the so-called Israeli lobby has long exerted enormous clout on Capitol Hill, an assistant to a prominent Democratic supporter of Israel commended Dole’s “courage” and said it represents growing sentiment in Congress to spread available funds more widely.

“There is an acute awareness among those involved in foreign aid that we’ve got 50 people (countries) trying to get into the bathtub, but we’ve got a 400-pound gorilla (Israel) sitting there in the middle,” said the aide, who requested anonymity.

“But this is not only about Israel,” which receives $3 billion, he continued. “There’s a lot in there for Egypt ($2.1 billion). The Philippines program ($360 million) is more realistic, but the amounts for Turkey ($610 million) and Pakistan ($490 million) are out of control.”

Times staff writer David Lauter contributed to this report.