In an email conversation among staffers who were crafting Democratic presidential nominee Hillary Clinton’s campaign announcement speech, a disagreement ensued over how prominent Israel should be in her speeches.
Clinton’s top foreign policy adviser, Jake Sullivan—who served in her leadership staff while she was secretary of state—said he would like to see “a sentence on standing up for our allies and our values, including Israel and other fellow democracies, and confronting terrorists and dictators with strength and cunning.” Others disagreed.
“Why would we call out Israel in public events now?” chief strategist Joel Benenson asked. “The only voters elevating [foreign policy] at all are Republican primary voters. To me we deal with this in stride when and if we are asked about [foreign policy].”
Her campaign manager, Robby Mook, then interjected:
“I’m w Joel. We shouldn’t have Israel at public events. Especially dem activists.”
Sullivan said he wasn’t going to “fall on a sword” over having Israel in the talking points, but felt the speech needed more than just a reference to climate change. The campaign’s chief speechwriter, Dan Schwerin offered this change:
“What about this as a base, and then she can drop in Israel when she’s with donors:
“Fourth and finally, we have to protect our country from the global threats that we see, from terrorists to dictators to diseases—and the ones that are still over the horizon. We have to assert confident American leadership to shape global events rather than be shaped by them. That includes taking on global warming and those who continue to deny that it exists. And it means always standing up for our allies and our values, especially our fellow democracies.”
That statement got the support of both Mook and Benenson.
