Mitchell Conference Call Round-Up

Aaron Keyak — February 19, 2009 – 5:10 pm | Israel | Democrats | Foreign Policy | Iran | Obama Comments (1) Add a comment

This morning, George Mitchell, President Obama’s Middle East Envoy, spoke with Jewish community leaders. Our very own, Ira Forman called Mitchell a “tour de force” and that “he seemed totally comfortable, he knew the players like a politician who had served on the foreign relations committee for twenty years.” Mitchell “is really serious about an input from their constituency groups” and showed an “impressive understanding of the nuances of the different positions with the Jewish community. He was incredibly diplomatic, but not afraid to disagree.”

Laura Rozen wrote a great post for Foreign Policy’s “The Cable.”

The White House organized a conference call for Jewish community leaders with U.S. special envoy for Arab-Israeli peace Sen. George Mitchell this morning, sources tell The Cable.

Also on the call from the administration were deputy assistant secretary of state for near eastern affairs David Hale, Tina Tchen, director of the White House public liaison office, and two people currently assigned to help Tchen do outreach to the Jewish community, Danielle Borrin from the office of the vice president and Susan Sher, associate counsel for the president.

“Mitchell was a tour de force,” says Ira Forman, executive director of the National Jewish Democratic Council, a Washington issue advocacy group. “He was both a skilled diplomat in not being pushed into positions that the administration was opposed to or was not ready to take, but also in a very diplomatic way was willing to say, that [the administration] disagrees with people from different ideological perspectives.”

Mitchell repeatedly emphasized two goals, Forman added. His, president Obama’s and the secretary of state’s “firm, unshakeable commitment to Israel’s security. And [their] commitment to a peace process leading to a two-state solution. … He said the issue is as difficult as it gets, but he would not have taken the job if he didn’t think it was possible.”

“He was someone eminently comfortable, who knew what he wanted to say, and he showed that he understood the audience very well, as a politician.”

Mitchell told Jewish leaders today that on the plane back from his recent trip to the Middle East, he had re-read his eight year old report on the Palestinian-Israeli conflict, and was struck by how much the situation had changed. Among the changes he noted, Mitchell said that eight years ago, no one talked about Iran. But this time, everyone mentioned it, both Israeli and Arab leaders.

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