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Obama Meets with Jewish Leaders
By William Wan
President Obama met with top Jewish leaders in the U.S. this afternoon to assuage them about his approach to issues like Iran and the Palestinian-Israeli conflict.
The meeting took place at 3 p.m. in the Roosevelt Room and lasted about an hour with more than a dozen Jewish leaders attending. According to them, Obama gave a general overview focusing on Middle East issues. Obama revealed nothing new, but he emphasized he is putting equal pressure on both Israel and Palestine in trying to push the peace process forward.
Obama addressed recent statements he has made pointing out the need for Israel to take responsibility on the issue of settlements. But he said those statements toward Israel have overemphasized and that he has been equally tough with Palestinian leaders, telling them they need to fulfill promises to reduce incitement and violence.
"He said he wanted to have a candid conversation about what he's thinking, where his policies coming from," said Rabbi Steven Wernick of United Synagogue of Conservative Judaism. "He wanted to reassure Jewish community of the good faith and alliance between US and Israel."
Of course, the full-spectrum of the Jewish community was there, so there were a lot of different takes on the meeting. I just talked to two leaders who attended the meetings, but some other interesting perspectives are represented in this Politico post. Also, an interesting article in the UK's Telegraph talking about the background leading up to the meeting.
"It was a real substantive dialogue, and an amazing chance to meet a president who's interested in his constituents to the point of meeting with them around a table and hearing their thoughts," said Wernick. "I didn't get a chance to ask my question, but one thing I really wanted to know is on the Israeli side with the settlements, it's easy to measure whether Israel is keeping its commitments through building there, permits, etc. But it's not so easy to measure whether Palestinians are keeping their commitments. I wanted to ask him if there are policies or ways to concretely measure whether they are stopping incitements."
Andrea Weinstein, chair of the Jewish Council for Public Affairs, said she asked Obama about the issue of hunger and the Child Nutrition Reauthorization Act up for consideration this fall and how to find federal dollars for it. Obama made no promises but expressed his support on the need to fight hunger domestically, she said.
Obama senior advisors David Axelrod and Rahm Emmanuel were there. Official readout from White House attached below with short summary and list of participants:
The President met with more than a dozen leaders from the Jewish community today for approximately 45 minutes. They had a substantive discussion, ranging from Middle East peace efforts and Iran, to reforming our health care system and policies to address global hunger. The President reiterated his unshakeable commitment to Israel's security, and reiterated his commitment to working to achieve Middle East peace. Participants: Alan Solow, Chairman, Conference of Presidents of Major American Jewish Organizations Lee Rosenberg, President-elect, AIPAC David Victor, President, AIPAC Malcolm Honlein, Executive Vice Chairman, Conference of Presidents of Major American Jewish Organizations Abraham Foxman, National Director, Anti-Defamation League Jason Isaacson, Director of Government and International Affairs, American Jewish Committee Nancy Ratzan, President, National Council of Jewish Women Kathy Manning, Chair, Executive Committee, United Jewish Communities Andrea Weinstein, Chair, Jewish Council for Public Affairs Marla Gilson, Washington Director, Hadassah Stephen Savitsky, President, Orthodox Union Rabbi Steven Wernick, Executive Vice President and CEO, United Synagogue of Conservative Judaism Rabbi Eric Yoffie, President, Union for Reform Judaism Ira Forman, Chief Executive Officer, National Jewish Democratic Council Debra DeLee, President and CEO, Americans for Peace Now Jeremy Ben Ami, Executive Director, J STREET
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William Wan
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July 13, 2009; 5:11 PM ET
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God in Government
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The United States Shift on Middle Eastern Policy.
An article from the Los Angeles Times published in The Age on the 15/7/’09 clearly showed the White House and its President Barack Obama are trying to shift away from the Bush Administration’s policies for the Middle East and away from the neoconservatives warmongering.
The Obama Administration is demanding from Israel to stop its expansionist policies in the Occupied Territories in “the pursuit to Middle East peace.” At the same token it’s trying to reduce the anti-American sentiment in the Arab and Islamic world. This shift from Obama and his administration has come under fire from various Jewish leaders and Jewish organizations in a recent meeting in the United States.
What may have angered the Jewish leaders is Obama’s statement that he would do nothing to change the U.S.-Israel relationship at an AIPAC (American Israel Public Affairs Committee) campaign meeting.
The Bush Administration had also demanded from Israel to “halt all construction of settlements in the West Bank” and advocated for the “creation of a Palestinian State.” Unfortunately, Bush was unable to persuade Israel and the various Jewish organizations to change their hard-line policies towards the Palestinians; he ended up following them in the end.
Obama and his administration may be contemplating reducing the billions of dollars in economic and military aid to Israel as the recession deepens. The U.S. may be better off adopting the strategy of offshore balancing. This is where it eliminates exercising its might in the region and another showdown with another Middle Eastern state, Iran. It will also show to the Arab world that the U.S. is not Israel’s lawyer in the region. This shift could bring peace into the war ravished region.