Former Florida Gov. Jeb Bush says he looks to his brother for advice on U.S.-Israel relations,
The Washington Post reported.
During a private event this week, the 2016 presidential hopeful surprised a group of Manhattan financial backers with the admission that former President George W. Bush is his go-to guy on matters related to the Middle East ally.
"If you want to know who I listen to for advice, it's him," Bush said Tuesday at the Metropolitan Club, according to four people who were in attendance.
One attendee said he was "stunned" to hear Jeb Bush name his brother as his point person.
"I started looking around and wondering if people were recording it. It was jarring," the attendee said. "If video of it got out, it'd be devastating."
But another attendee described the reaction differently.
"It was a very positive response, just based on faces around the room," the attendee told the Post. "There didn't seem to be any sort of negative reaction."
Bush's comment came in response to questions about who is advising him on policy and whether former Secretary of State James Baker was one of his close advisers.
Baker became the source of controversy among Bush backers after he spoke at a conference for the
left-leaning J Street Group, an Israeli advocacy organization comprised mostly of Democrats ,where he criticized Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu for not backing a two-state solution.
Admitting a reliance on George W. for foreign policy advice could be risky given the former president's controversial legacy and Jeb's repeated attempts to distinguish himself from his father and brother, the Post said.
But one expert pointed out that George W.'s legacy on Israel is well-regarded.
"For all of the negatives in how George W. Bush is remembered in foreign policy, people who are supportive of Israel remember him as supportive of Israel," said Danielle Pletka of the American Enterprise Institute, according to the Post.
"For Bush, he has to find a way to deflect the festering question of his relationship with James Baker."
Tim Miller, a spokesman for Jeb, played down the significance of the GOP hopeful's comment.
"Governor Bush has said before that his brother is the greatest ally to Israel in presidential history, he admires his stalwart support for our ally, and that is in line with his commitment to standing with Israel in the face of great threats to their security and our own," Miller said in a statement Thursday, according to the Post.
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