Hillary Presses Lazio on Handshake

ByABC News
September 12, 2000, 6:51 AM

Sept. 11 -- Staying on the offensive in the latest New York Senate campaign controversy, first lady Hillary Rodham Clinton criticized opponent Rick Lazio again today after a photo surfaced of Lazio shaking hands with Yasser Arafat.

People should be held accountable, especially when their words and actions arent the same, Mrs. Clinton told reporters after a campaign event in Scarsdale today.

The photo, taken in December 1998 and obtained by ABCNEWS from the White House Sunday, shows Lazio shaking hands with Arafat and broadly grinning.

The White House released the picture one day after Lazio sharply criticized both Clinton and first lady Hillary Rodham Clinton, his opponent for New Yorks open Senate seat, for their own greetings of controversial foreign leaders.

I think we send the wrong message when we embrace, whether its Mrs. Arafat or Fidel Castro, Lazio said on Friday.

Last fall, Mrs. Clinton sparked a controversy by kissing Arafats wife, Suha Arafat, after a speech in the Middle East during which Mrs. Arafat claimed Israelis had used poison gas on Palestinian women and children.

In July, the first lady defended the embrace, saying some of you may or not have ever been to the Middle East, but a kiss is a handshake there.

Campaigning Sunday in upstate New York, Lazio defended his actions, saying there was a big difference between his greeting of Arafat and President Clintons handshake with Cuban leader Fidel Castro at the United Nations Millennium Summit last week, an act derided by Lazio and other prominent Republicans.

I would not shake Fidel Castros hand, Lazio told reporters in upstate Laningsburgh. The difference is, this is a person who were involved in peace negotiations with.

Mrs. Clinton Holds Her Ground

When asked about the photo Sunday, Mrs. Clinton said it was just another example of Lazio saying one thing and doing another.