One of John McCain’s strengths is his strong grasp on the conflicts that our country is currently faced with and his understanding of how to deal with conflict. He certainly knows that pretending conflict is not there doesn’t make it go away.

While John McCain has been touring the Middle East this week he has visited King Abdullah II of Jordan and Israel. He has voiced his support of Israel as well as hope for peace in the Middle East as a whole.

The Jerusalem Post

“If Hamas/Hizbullah succeeds here, they are going to succeed everywhere, not only in the Middle East, but everywhere. Israel isn’t the only enemy,” Arizona Sen. McCain said, in the only interview he is giving to the Israeli media during his visit here.

“They are dedicated to the extinction of everything that the US, Israel and the West believe and stand for. So America does have an interest in what happens here, far above and beyond our alliance with the State of Israel.”

McCain calls Israel a partner, not a client. He says as partners it is not our place to tell Israel how to handle the conflicts they have with their neighbors. While he would not recommend that Israel not talk to Hamas he said that he is personally against it.

“Someone is going to have to answer me the question of how you are going to negotiate with an organization that is dedicated to your extinction,” McCain said in a lounge in Jerusalem’s David Citadel Hotel, as Lieberman and Graham listened.

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“I really think that we should understand that the US and Israel are partners. Israel is not a client of the United States,” he said. “If you are partners, then you don’t dictate what you think the terms of the survival of a nation should be.”

Asked whether Israel was using the right tactics in trying to quell the rocket fire on Sderot and the western Negev, McCain praised Defense Minister Ehud Barak - terming him “one of the great military people” he has met - and added, “I can’t give you a good answer as to how you respond to these rocket attacks.”

But, he then said dryly, “I can tell you that I believe that if rocket attacks came across the border of the United States of America, that the American people would probably demand pretty vigorous actions in response. I think I know my constituency in the state of Arizona, and they would be pretty exercised if rockets came across our southern border.”

And what did he have to say about Iran ….

“I think Iran is a threat to the region,” McCain said, adding that not only were the Iranians “obviously pursuing nuclear weapons,” they were also arming and training extremists to send into Iraq, supporting Hizbullah and influencing Syria.

“At the end of the day, we can still not afford to have Iran with nuclear weapons,” he said. “We know they have ambitions that are not just aimed at the State of Israel.”

These ambitions included “destabilization of the entire region upon which the United States’ national security interests rest,” he said.

McCain is in the region with his close friends, fellow Senators, Joe Lieberman and Lesley Graham. Here are some photos from their trip. You can click on the photos to make them larger.