Letter to the Editor: Setting the Record Straight on Iron Dome

NJDC — April 22, 2013 – 11:10 am | Barack Obama | Congress | Foreign Policy | Israel | Republicans Comments (0) Add a comment

Dear Editor,

Critics of our April 4 op-ed caught us red-handed: we as members of the National Jewish Democratic Council enthusiastically support President Obama. Who would have thought that among the sweeping majority of Jews that voted to reelect the President in 2012 that two members of our community would want to tout President Obama’s exemplary record following his highly successful and historic trip to Israel?

However, the assertion that President Bush is responsible for the Iron Dome is patently false. In November 2012, The Wall Street Journal reported that the Bush Administration passed on the Iron Dome in favor of another system. WSJ’s narrative referred to the Bush Administration’s response as “frosty” and pessimistic on the science when pitched the program.

JTA’s Ron Kampeas wrote plainly in August 2012 that “Obama more or less owns U.S. backing for Iron Dome” because of his personal involvement in securing the initial and subsequent funding. President Obama has specifically allocated and delivered $275 million for the Iron Dome, with approximately $400 million more sought for the coming years. As Israeli Missile Defense Expert Uzi Rubin told the Washington Institute for Near East Policy in December 2012, President Obama deserves tremendous thanks for providing the funding because the Israeli government does not have the ability to move around that kind of money on short notice. 

As we said in our op-ed, pro-Israel Americans should be thankful that we have such reliable pro-Israel leadership in the White House. Deliberately pushing false information about the current state of the U.S.-Israel relationship does not strengthen our ties and runs counter to the tried and true methods employed by the pro-Israel community to build broad bipartisan support for the Jewish state.

Barbara Goldberg Goldman, Executive Committee member and Women’s Leadership Network co-founder, National Jewish Democratic Council

David Streeter, Press Secretary, National Jewish Democratic Council

 

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