The Nation: The 51st State

The American commitment to Israel is something that transcends formal international agreements. It is partly an emotional tie, an almost institutionalized impulse of sympathy left over from the state's birth out of the European holocaust. It is also a powerful and sometimes disturbing factor. No presidential candidate, for example, would risk the hostility of the nation's Jewish voters —and wealthy Jewish contributors—by even hinting that his affection for Israel was less than total. One of George McGovern's insistent, and so far less than persuasive campaign themes, has been his distinguishing between his dovish stand on Viet Nam and his relatively hawkish...