While Israel was gleeful over the veep selection of Senator JOSEPH LIEBERMAN--"a very Jewish Jew," as one Israeli diplomat noted--the Senator and the Israeli government don't always walk in lockstep. Lieberman opposes the U.S. release of convicted Israeli spy Jonathan Pollard, and he signed a letter to Barak protesting Israel's plans to sell China a sophisticated early-warning aircraft. He also visits Arab countries on Middle East trips. In 1991 he spent a week in Riyadh, where the Saudi royal family fixed kosher meals for him.
Jim Zogby, president of the Arab-American Institute, told Lieberman in 1992 that aides were refusing...