European criticism of Israel 'amazes' senator John Mccain

European criticism of Israel 'amazes' senator John Mccain


John McCain, the US senator, yesterday challenged European leaders who have criticised Israel's military operations in Lebanon as excessive, saying that "no nation in the world would react any differently than Israel has".

"I continue to be amazed by some of our European friends who have called on the Israelis" to rein in their military
campaign in Lebanon, Senator John McCain said. "Do I want the Israelis to exercise restraint? Yes, but only while doing what they
need to do to ensure theirsecurity."

Mr McCain, who sits on the Senate armed services committee and is expected to seek the Republican nomination for president
in 2008, made the remarks in a wide-ranging talk before
members of the Manhattan Institute, a conservative
think-tank in New York.

Mr McCain's comments come after President George W. Bush
sought at the G8 summit to play down differences with other countries over the confict, particularly France and Russia. While Mr Bush has repeatedly emphasised that blame for the Israeli incursions into Lebanon rests with Hizbollah and defended Israel's right to defend itself, in Paris and
Moscow there has been criticism of Israel for its "disproportionate response".

Mr McCain warned that the crisis could "widen rather dramatically" and expressed concern about Iran's role as possible supplier of rockets to Hizbollah, as well
as Iran's ultimate goals in the region.

"The Iranians are emerging in an interesting fashion," he said.

"We should have perhaps anticipated this a bit more after the speech . . . where [Iranian president] Mahmoud
Ahmadi-Nejad vowed to wipe Israel off the map."

He argued that if "liberty were extinguished in the state of Israel", then the US would be the next target of Hizbollah
and Hamas. "We cannot allow Iran to destroy Israel."

He said Russia should use its influence over Iran to
defuse the crisis. And he said the US should be working
to foster opposition inside Iran.

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