Obama and Clinton Meet with Peres

David Streeter — April 5, 2011 – 5:38 pm | Foreign Policy | Iran | Israel | Obama Comments (0) Add a comment

President Barack Obama and Secretary of State Hillary Clinton both held meetings today with Israeli President Shimon Peres. The meetings between Obama, Clinton, and Peres are just the latest demonstration of the high level strategic cooperation that takes place frequently between the Obama Administration and the Israeli government. 

JTA reported on the morning meeting between Clinton and Peres:

Shimon Peres told Hillary Rodham Clinton that Israel was ready to do what it could to facilitate transition among its neighbors to democracy.

‘We see this occasion as an occasion for better and for good will to cooperate in every possible way to enable this change to take the course into the 21st century for all the Middle East people and escape their poverty and problems and wants,’ the Israeli president told the U.S. secretary of state before their meeting Monday afternoon.

And:

Clinton told Peres that it was an honor to host him in Washington and that ‘President Obama is very much looking forward to seeing you and discussing the issues that you have raised and your perspectives and the way forward, which will hopefully realize the better outcomes that we all wish for.’

‘Our task together is to deepen and broaden our friendship, our relationship, our partnership to look for ways that we can work toward the kind of future that you have always believed in and that you have held out as a promise for the children of Israel and the children of all the countries of the Middle East,’ Clinton said.

Click here for more background on the relationship between Clinton and Peres.

Obama said after his meeting with Peres:

President Peres is I think an extraordinary statesman. We had an extensive discussion about what’s happened in the Middle East. I think he and I both share a belief that this is both a challenge and an opportunity; that with the winds of change blowing through the Arab world, it’s more urgent than ever that we try to seize the opportunity to create a peaceful solution between the Palestinians and the Israelis, and he has some very interesting ideas around those issues. He also recognizes the fact that in a country like Egypt, not only do we need to be nurturing democracy, but we also have to make sure that economic opportunity is growing there. And so we explored some ideas about how we can provide some help and make sure that young people there see a brighter future.

Yedioth Ahronoth reported after the meeting between Obama and Peres:

Peres later said that Obama told him he was against the attempts to de-legitimize the State of Israel and that he is in favor of reigniting direct talks with the Palestinians. Obama stressed he was willing to embark on a peace process as long as it wouldn’t be a one-off occasion.

Peres told reporters he raised the Iranian issue during his meeting with Obama. He said Iran symbolizes the corruption of universal moral values. Peres noted that the US president reiterated his commitment to Israel’s security which is at the top of the American administration’s priorities. 

After the meeting, Peres did an interview with Wolf Blitzer during an event for the S. Daniel Abraham Center for Middle East Peace. Some highlights from the interview are below, and the video of Peres’ remarks follows. The entire video can be viewed here.

[Blitzer]Q: How did your meetings with President Obama go today?

[Peres]A: Very well. I trust the President. I think he’s serious. I think he has a dilemma that all of us has [sic]. The dilemma is between following the core values, the primacy of the moral choice, and the realistic situation, which is not necessarily as moral as we would like it to be. And, to be honest, wherever you can have the moral code as the supreme consideration, do it. If you don’t have a moral code, but you have to choose between difficult and complicated situations, the least vicious is the best one. I think the president does it, wherever he can, he prefers the moral code, otherwise its time for the least damaging choice. It doesn’t depend on him, he cannot control the world.

And:

[Blitzer]Q: What do you say to those Israelis who don’t consider President Obama a friend of Israel?

[Peres]A: I am saying they are mistaken.

[Blitzer]Q: Give me an example of why they are mistaken.

[Peres]A: Pragmatically, for example, they didn’t believe that the United States would use its veto power in the Security Council. The President said and told me several times that as long as he is President, the security of Israel would be on top of his political consideration. He does it, in fact, of the military and defensive relations are at their best. The United States was the only country that didn’t take the Goldstone report about Gaza as a true one. Now, Goldstone himself changed his view, the United States was justified, so whatever went down, I can see we have a response. The President is not always flowering his language, and occasionally, we too don’t go to the end of his intentions. For example, if I take his Cairo speech, the United States wants to improve her relations with the Muslim world. What for? In order to enable the Muslims to improve their own places. Now, we also would like to improve our policies with the Muslim World. Islam is not our enemy, the Muslims are not our enemy. We want to live in peace with all of the religion.  We would like to achieve the same thing, so I believe that we have to build some more balance, and I couldn’t recall a term to the President which he says no I’m not interested.

 

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