Obama’s Pro-Israel Record

Steve Sheffey — June 25, 2009 – 10:05 pm | Foreign Policy | GOP Hypocrisies | Israel | Stop the Smears Comments (0) Add a comment

We’ve been hearing from our Republican friends that President Barack Obama is not pro-Israel. Our Republican friends are entitled to their own opinions, but not to their own facts.  In Obama’s short tenure as President, he has proven by word and deed to be strongly pro-Israel:

FACT: No Administration in history has come into office with a Vice President, Secretary of State, and Chief of Staff with stronger pro-Israel credentials than this one.

FACT: Steve Rosen, AIPAC’s director of executive branch relations for 23 years, has written that Obama’s appointments are no cause for concern from a pro-Israel perspective. 

FACT: Rosen was very concerned about Chas Freeman, but that appointment by Dennis Blair was never final and was rescinded—exactly what we’d expect from a pro-Israel administration that listens to the pro-Israel community.

FACT: Obama fulfilled his campaign promise to boycott Durban II unless ALL of our conditions were met.

FACT: On May 1, Obama renewed sanctions against Syria because it posed a continuing threat to US interests. Obama, in a letter to Congress notifying it of his decision, accused Damascus of “supporting terrorism, pursuing weapons of mass destruction and missile programs, and undermining US and international efforts with respect to the stabilization and reconstruction of Iraq.”

FACT: Obama was the first President to host a seder in the White House. To my right wing friends who try to read “signals” the way the ancients read animal entrails: What signal do you think Obama was sending to the world?

FACT: President Obama issued a proclamation deeming May Jewish American Heritage Month, the fourth year the president has issued such a proclamation since the House and Senate, spearheaded by Rep. Debbie Wasserman Schultz (D-Fla.), passed resolutions urging that May be marked in such a manner.

FACT: Obama will fully fund the development and production of the Arrow 3 ballistic missile defense system.  United States officials told Israel of its decision on May 20 during a strategic dialogue between the two countries. The Arrow 3 will be a longer-range version of the Arrow system that the IDF currently operates, capable of intercepting missiles at a farther distance and a higher altitude from the Jewish state.

FACT: The Obama administration reiterated that it will maintain the US policy of ambiguity on regarding Israel’s nuclear weapons(5/21/09).

FACT: On June 4 in Cairo, Obama told the Arab and Muslim world that America’s bond with Israel is “unbreakable.” He told the Arab and Muslim world, a world rife with Holocaust denial, that to deny the Holocaust is “baseless, ignorant, and hateful.”  He told them that threatening Israel with destruction is “deeply wrong.” He said that “Palestinians must abandon violence” and that “it is a sign of neither courage nor power to shoot rockets at sleeping children, or to blow up old women on a bus.” And he said that “Hamas must put an end to violence, recognize past agreements, and recognize Israel’s right to exist.”

FACT:  Rep. Eliot Engel (D-NY), a staunch supporter of the Jewish state, said in an interview that it was no small thing for a U.S. president to offer an extended defense of Israel before a Muslim audience.   “If you’re delivering a speech in Cairo directed to the Arab world and you mention in the speech that Israel has a right to exist and right to exist in security, that it grew from the ashes of the Holocaust and that America has an unbreakable bond, that demonstrates extraordinary courage,” said Engel.

FACT: Dennis Ross, a key pro-Israel advisor to Obama during the campaign, will be playing a major role in Middle East matters in the Obama administration, the Washington Post reported on June 24.

And regarding certain factual misrepresentations…
 
Rahm Emanuel did NOT link progress on Iran to Israel’s willingness to create a Palestinian state.

The Obama administration is NOT spending $20 million on resettling Palestinians with ties to Hamas in the United States.

Obama has been clear that it is NOT his place to decide Israel’s security needs and that no options are off the table regarding Iran.

Obama did NOT suggest that the Holocaust and Palestinian suffering are morally equivalent.

It is NOT clear whether Bush reached a secret agreement with Israel regarding settlements.

Jewish housing in eastern Jerusalem is NOT part of the Obama administration’s demand for a settlement freeze.

 Obama’s position on settlements IS virtually identical to President George W. Bush’s.

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