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https://scmp.com/news/world/article/1636716/rival-us-power-brokers-haim-saban-and-sheldon-adelson-issue-warnings
World

Rival US power brokers Haim Saban and Sheldon Adelson issue warnings to their parties

Billionaires Haim Saban and Sheldon Adelson, who will be on opposite sides in presidential race, agree on approach to Israel and Iran

Political bankrollers Sheldon Adelson (left) and Haim Saban. Photos: AFP, Reuters

The billionaire political kingmakers planning to bankroll much of the 2016 presidential campaign have put aside their differences to speak out together with blunt warnings on key issues for their respective parties.

Haim Saban, a media mogul and close Democratic ally of Hillary Rodham Clinton, criticised President Barack Obama's outreach to Iran, declaring that "we've shown too many carrots and a very small stick".

Sheldon Adelson, a casino magnate who is likely to tap into his fortune in an effort to elect a Republican to the White House, upbraided many in the party for their opposition to legalising millions of undocumented immigrants. Without a comprehensive overhaul, he said, the country would not be "the America that I'm proud to live in".

Adelson, 81, and Saban, 70, have gained enormous power in the new era of super political action committees and unlimited contributions. Both made it clear during a rare joint appearance on Sunday, before an audience of several hundred Israeli-Americans, that they intended to assert that power during the next presidential campaign and beyond with policy demands for their candidates. In particular, they vowed to press both sides for a more hawkish approach to the Middle East.

Appearing before a group called the Israeli American Council, both men called for unity when it comes to support for the Jewish state, reminding all prospective presidential candidates of the primacy of the US-Israel relationship. And they agreed that Obama and his administration have not been tough enough in protecting Israel's interests.

In an interview with The Washington Post, Saban described the president's relationship with Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu as "like oil and water". That had fed a perception, he said, that Obama has not been a friend to Israel. But Saban thought that, in reality, "there's never been this level of cooperation with any previous president".

Still, Saban thought Clinton would repair the relationship and has told her he would spend "whatever it takes" to propel her into the White House.

"I have told her and everybody who's asked me, 'Whatever it takes, we're going to be there'," Saban said. "I think she would be a fantastic president for the United States, an incredible world leader and one under whom I believe - deeply - the relationship with the US and Israel will be significantly reinforced."

Asked if he would press his friend Adelson to give to the pro-Clinton super committee, Saban said, "I've got chutzpah, but I'm not suicidal."

In their public remarks, Saban and Adelson found common ground in their disdain for Iran, and their fear for the danger they said that regime poses for Israel. They expressed concern about US negotiations over Iran's nuclear programme.

Adelson said that Iranian fundamentalists were instructed by their religion to "wipe out all infidels" and that "wiping out the Jews would be a down payment on that".

Referring to US engagement with Iran, he said: "I would not just talk. I would take action."

Saban said that fundamentalist Iranians represented a real threat. If necessary to defend Israel, and as a last resort, he added: "I would bomb the living daylights out of the sons of bitches."

In their hour-long discussion on stage, Saban and Adelson had few disagreements, but one concerned how Israel engaged with Palestinians.

Saban said Israel had no choice but to negotiate with the Palestinians, whose numbers in the region roughly equal those of Israeli Jews.

"What is Israel to do with these six million people?" Saban asked. "It is not about granting the Palestinian state. It's about securing the future of a democratic Israel."

But Adelson rejected the feasibility of a two-state solution.

"Newt Gingrich was right: the Palestinians are an invented people," Adelson said, referring to a controversial statement made by the former Republican House speaker whose failed 2012 presidential campaign Adelson heavily funded.

 


George W. Bush puts odds of brother Jeb's presidential bid at 50-50

Former Republican president George W. Bush said there was a "50-50" chance his younger brother, Jeb, would run for US president in 2016.

"He's wrestling with the decision," the former president said in an interview on CBS's Face the Nation that aired on Sunday. "I think it's 50-50. I'd give it a toss-up."

Bush, the 43rd president, was promoting his new book about his father, George H.W. Bush, the 41st president, when he broached the prospect of a Bush as the 45th president. Jeb Bush, the former Florida governor, has increasingly signalled he may be interested in the job.

"I hope he runs," Bush said, adding that he would campaign for his brother-or stay behind the scenes, if that is preferred. "I would be one of his strongest backers."

Another possible candidate, Republican Scott Walker, who won re-election last week as Wisconsin governor, also did not rule out a bid.

McClatchy-Tribune