McCain visits Israel "worried" about Iran and Hamas

Enlarge image

By Dan Williams

JERUSALEM (Reuters) - U.S. Republican presidential candidate John McCain came to Israel on Tuesday as part of a fact-finding tour of the Middle East which could also boost his popularity among American Jewish voters.

McCain, an Arizona senator who will be his party’s nominee to face the Democrats’ choice in the November election, began his two-day visit at the Yad Vashem Holocaust memorial.

McCain and Senate allies, Democrat-turned-Independent Joe Lieberman of Connecticut and South Carolina Republican Lindsey Graham, then met Israeli President Shimon Peres for talks on Iran’s nuclear projects and backing of Palestinian militants.

"Senator McCain expressed his concern over Iranian involvement in the region and noted that Iran finances and aids extremist groups. He added that his current trip to the Middle East has reinforced his concern," Peres’s office said in a statement.

McCain was not expected to make public statements before a meeting on Wednesday with Israeli Prime Minister Ehud Olmert, but in a pre-visit interview he voiced concern for Middle East peacemaking efforts recently dented by a surge of bloodshed.

Referring to Palestinian rockets fired from the Hamas-run Gaza Strip, McCain told Israel’s Yedioth Ahronoth newspaper: "We are very worried by the missile attacks against Israel, .....continued below

Advertisement starts

Advertisement ends

"There is a very difficult situation in the region. There is tension between Israel and the Palestinians, and I want to check out the opportunities to help," he said.

The 71-year-old ex-aviator and Vietnam war POW has denied seeking to improve his electoral prospects on this tour, saying he came as a top member of the Senate Armed Services Committee rather than President George W. Bush’s potential successor.

The U.S. election will end the term of a president many in Israel regard as one of its strongest supporters.

Though McCain has had notable differences with Bush on a host of security and foreign-policy issues, his hawkish talk on Iran and military pedigree impress many in the Jewish state.

Israel, believed to have the region’s only atomic arsenal, has pledged to prevent Iran from attaining the means to threaten its existence. But some experts believe Israel lacks the means to take on Iran -- which denies seeking the bomb -- alone.

Israeli media reports speculated that Hillary Clinton and Barack Obama, the Democratic senators vying for their party’s presidential nomination, would also visit Israel in the coming weeks.

(Additional reporting by Avida Landau)