Recent weeks have seen a number of pieces in the American and Israeli press attacking National Security Adviser H.R. McMaster and questioning his fitness for his position. Some include the assertions that he is unfriendly to Israel and favors a conciliatory strategy toward Iran. Yaakov Amidror and Eran Lerman, both of whom have held senior positions on the Israeli National Security Council and in IDF military intelligence, disagree:
Israeli officers and scholars who have worked with McMaster say that he was always highly appreciative of Israel and of its contributions to the security of the U.S. They attest to his broad support for and admiration of the IDF. It is absurd to assert that, all these years, hidden underneath McMaster’s friendliness was a grudge against Israel that the general is now free to act on. . . . [W]hatever the reasons may have been for his decision to relieve certain senior National Security Council officials of their duties, anti-Semitic or anti-Israeli sentiments were certainly not part of the calculus.
Israelis and friends of Israel in the U.S. do not need to agree with every position McMaster has taken, nor should the general be immune to specific policy criticism, such as the Trump administration’s failure to put forward coherent policies on Syria or Iran. But McMaster is not an enemy. It is wrong to assault his personal reputation, especially when the attack is based on hearsay. . . .
McMaster, and the other generals who now form the backbone of the Trump administration, should be treated as representative of an American defense establishment whose positive views of Israel are by now an important aspect of the special relationship [between the two countries], and whose importance within the American system has grown steadily since 9/11. The days of anti-Israel attitudes in the Pentagon are long gone.
Read more on Jerusalem Post: http://www.jpost.com/American-Politics/Former-top-Israeli-security-officers-McMaster-is-a-friend-to-Israel-502294