Reply To: How should we as Jews mourn the loss of former president George h.w. bush?

Joseph, I recall things differently. Bush and Baker put tremendous pressure on Israel to make a peace deal in Madrid, expecting Israel to fall in line because they “saved” them from the Scuds. Holding back the loan guarantees as blackmail to stop settlement activity was a horrible way to treat an ally. Israel was not asking for a hand-out.
During the Gulf War, America put Israel in a very difficult place by requesting their restraint- it was clearly a request that could not be refused, not if they wanted to keep their relationship with their important ally.
Yes, he was a gentleman- more than could be said for other presidents, but one that was not a friend of Israel. That in itself doesn’t make him a bad president, but it does affect my (and probably other Jews’) opinion of him. I recall the Jewish frum vote going quite eagerly to Clinton in 1992, there was a lot of upset at this supposed friend of the Jews, as you call him.