Wasserman Schultz: Obama Making Sure U.S. is “Israel’s Truest Friend”

Max Samis — March 1, 2012 – 2:02 pm | Barack Obama | Foreign Policy | Iran | Israel Comments (0) Add a comment

In an op-ed for Washington Jewish Week, Democratic National Chair Representative Debbie Wasserman Schultz (D-FL) defends President Barack Obama as “a true friend” of Israel who has consistently demonstrated his steadfast dedication to the Jewish state.

Wasserman Schultz wrote:

In regions like Israel’s, where friends are hard to come by, those who stand with you are all the more valuable. President Obama is making sure America isn’t just one of those friends - he’s making sure we are Israel’s truest friend and staunchest ally.

Part of that pact means standing up for Israel when no one else will, which is precisely what the president has done time and again before the international community….

Even as he directs an economic recovery that has required difficult spending decisions, President Obama sent Israel the largest security assistance packages in U.S. history. In every year of his presidency, he has increased our assistance to Israel over the previous year. President Obama’s commitment to Israel continues in his recently released 2013 Budget, raising his request to $3.1 billion, an increase of $25 million from last year’s aid to Israel, and the largest foreign security assistance package in U.S. history.

During the past three years, President Obama has also escalated the visits of senior officials to Israel and facilitated the largest-ever joint military exercise between our nations. Under the Obama administration, Israeli forces have been granted access to the most advanced U.S. military hardware, such as the F-35 Joint Strike Fighter. It’s no surprise that Israel’s Defense Minister Ehud Barak has praised the Obama administration, saying he ‘can hardly remember a better period of support.’

She also wrote about Obama’s work to stop Iran’s nuclear weapons program:

... [W]hen it comes to Iran’s nuclear-weapons capability, the president is unshakable in his message: if you threaten Israel, you will find yourself isolated from the rest of the world.

Thanks to President Obama’s strongest-ever sanctions on Iran - an international effort that has crippled Iran’s economy and weakened its tyrannical leaders - that is already happening. This pressure has come in the form of robust multilateral sanctions, which the president convinced China and Russia to support, and comprehensive, unilateral American sanctions that he has signed and implemented during the past three years.

President Obama is not naive about the Iranian regime’s threat to Israeli or American security. He understands the grave threat a nuclear-armed Iran would pose to Israel. That’s why the President has repeatedly made clear that no options - including military force - are off the table in dealing with this threat. And that’s why he has consistently demonstrated America’s unbreakable commitment to our closest ally.

Click here to read Wasserman Schultz’s full op-ed.

Click here to read more about Obama’s support for Israel.

Click here to read more about Obama’s work to stop Iran’s nuclear program.

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