McCain flashes his pro-Israel credentials

Wearing a white knitted kippah, Sen. John McCain stood at the Western Wall, tucked a note inside one of its crevices and pressed his hand on the ancient stone, striking an image meant to speak to American Jewish voters across the sea that he is indeed their man.

McCain, the Arizona senator who is the presumptive Republican presidential nominee, spoke March 19 of his "deep and abiding commitment to Israel" — a theme he stressed throughout his meetings this week with Israeli leaders.

Sounding a note of commonality and understanding with his Israeli hosts, McCain said that Iran, Hamas and Hezbollah were threats not only to Israel, but to America as well.

"Iran is funding, training and aiding extremist groups," McCain told Israeli President Shimon Peres. "My concern over this issue has increased following my current tour of the Middle East."

Although billed as a congressional fact-finding mission with fellow Sens. Joe Lieberman (I-Conn.) and Lindsey Graham (R-S.C.), both major McCain supporters, McCain's visit to Israel felt more like a campaign stop.

It served as a backdrop for dramatic photo opportunities and a venue to talk tough on foreign policy, which McCain is plugging as his forte in the race. Before arriving in Israel, the delegation visited Iraq and Jordan.

Along with the Iranian nuclear threat, McCain and his Israeli counterparts discussed the deteriorating situation in and around the Gaza Strip, the Israeli-Palestinian peace process and the U.S.-Israel relationship.

On March 19, following lunch with Prime Minister Ehud Olmert, McCain joined Defense Minister Ehud Barak for a helicopter tour of the country.

The tour recalled a similar tour that then-presidential hopeful George W. Bush took with then-Israeli Defense Minister Ariel Sharon in 1998 in which Sharon demonstrated the great security challenges facing Israel given its small size.

The helicopter tour often is cited as a key element in securing Bush's strong support for Israeli security.

On his visit, McCain also saw firsthand the toll that Palestinian rocket fire from the Gaza Strip has taken on the southern Israeli city Sderot. The senator said that if rockets were to hit Arizona, residents certainly would demand a harsh response.

Speaking about the peace process, McCain made clear that, like Bush and Olmert, he thinks Palestinian Authority President Mahmoud Abbas should be cultivated as a peace partner.

McCain told Israeli Foreign Minister Tzipi Livni during their meeting that Abbas said in a phone conversation he also is disturbed by the rocket fire from Gaza.

"I again believe that President Abbas wants to get this process started," McCain said. "I believe that he does not support the kind of activity that is taking place in Gaza."

Perhaps the most raucous part of McCain's trip came when he departed the Western Wall and was swarmed by throngs of photographers, tourists and well-wishers, some of whom shouted out greetings to "the future president."

As photographers and television crews surged to get closer to McCain, they were pushed back by Israeli border policemen. Several fistfights ensued.

The scene at the holiest site in Judaism may have offered McCain a glimpse of the rough-and-tumble energy in the region, which offered a stark contrast to the series of warm but sedate rounds of visits he held with Israeli officialdom.