Defense Secretary Nominee Chuck Hagel Referred To State Department As An "Adjunct To The Israeli Foreign Minister's Office"

This report has surfaced, with yet another mind-boggling statement that Hagel delivered at Rutgers University in 2007:

Hagel said the U.S. Department of State was an adjunct of the Israeli foreign minister’s office, according to a contemporaneous report of the event. Republican political consultant and Hagel supporter George Ajjan wrote about the March 2, 2007, speech on his website the following day, writing a description “point by point through some of the more important elements of his speech.” [Ajjan, on point six:]   The State Department has become adjunct to the Israeli Foreign Minister’s office …

Reached by phone, Ajjan confirmed his 2007 account of the event, saying he was “taking notes as [Hagel] was speaking.” 

Rabbi Abraham Cooper of the Simon Wiesenthal Center said in a phone conversation that the notion that our government is an adjunct of Israel is “beyond fantasy.” As for Hagel himself, Cooper was blunt: “Do most Americans think he is the best person? They do not.” Moreover, Hagel’s shaky performance on Iran troubled Cooper greatly. “He either wasn’t briefed, or maybe he was nervous,” he offered. But well beyond any ludicrous statements about Jews and Israel, Cooper said, “most important, the mullahs are going full-blast with nuclearization. Our only shot is a chokehold on the people that count [in the regime] and the fear of a powerful, immediate response.” He worries that Hagel simply won’t be able to advance that position. “He would be entering the endgame,” Cooper said.

The Republican Jewish Coalition put out a statement, which read, in part:

This new information shows why Senate Republicans are right to insist that final action on this nomination not be rushed. We need to fully investigate this allegation, and that means Senator Hagel needs to be heard from directly. Did Chuck Hagel really tell this audience — or any audience — that “the State Department is an adjunct to the Israeli Foreign Minister’s office”? That is what a pro-Hagel blogger, who says he was “taking notes as [Hagel] was speaking,” reported at the time. It should go without saying that claiming Israel controls our State Department is absurd and outrageous.

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