Speaking yesterday to an estimated 13,000 delegates at AIPAC’s 2013 Policy Conference, U.S. Senator John Cornyn linked the bipartisan American consensus in favor of a strong U.S.-Israel relationship to common values shared between the two countries:

Strong support for Israel on Capitol Hill reflects the strong support for Israel in our cities, towns, and communities… Americans feel a special kinship with Israel because our countries share common values: liberty, equality, and human rights. America and Israel have stayed true to these values even though we’ve had to respond to murderous attacks by some of the most ruthless terrorist organizations on the planet.

The Texas senator, who as the Senate Minority Whip is the second most powerful Republican in the Senate, related an incident from early 2001, during a Knesset ceremony to swear in the new government of then-Prime Minister Ariel Sharon. Sharon used the occasion to emphasize Israel’s willingness to make concessions to the Palestinians in exchange for a peace deal, and was heckled by Arab legislators. News reports from the time described the incident:

Addressing a special Knesset session Wednesday before the swearing-in of his government, Sharon said he is prepared to make painful concessions for peace, but the Palestinian side had failed to demonstrate its own willingness to do the same… Sharon reiterated that Israel would not negotiate with the Palestinian Authority under threat of terror or violence. “We demand that the Palestinians abandon the path of violence, terror and incitement,” Sharon said. He was interrupted several times by heckling from Arab legislators.

Cornyn told the crowd that the reverse situation — in which elected Jewish legislators would be permitted to heckle a Palestinian Prime Minister — was unimaginable. He noted that the juxtaposition “goes a long way to explain[ing] why Americans stand with Israel.”

The senator’s comments echo a point often made by Israel’s Arab citizens, who make up about 20 percent of Israel’s population. Israel’s 1948 Declaration of Establishment of the State of Israel locks in “complete equality of social and political rights to all [Israel’s] inhabitants irrespective of religion, race or sex,” and “full and equal citizenship and due representation in all its provisional and permanent institutions.” Life expectancy for Israeli Arabs exceeds that of Arabs in neighboring states by 10 years, while infant mortality figures are orders of magnitude lower than in neighboring countries. A 2008 poll found that 77 percent of Israel’s Arab citizens would rather live in Israel than in any other country in the world.

Sen. Cornyn’s speech:

[Photo: AIPAC]