Solow Praises Obama’s Pro-Israel Record

Ariela Fleisig — July 22, 2011 – 4:52 pm | Barack Obama | Foreign Policy | Israel Comments (0) Add a comment

Former Conference of Presidents of Major American Jewish Organizations President Alan Solow pushed back against misrepresentations of President Barack Obama’s pro-Israel record during an interview with The Jerusalem Post’s Shmuel Rosner.

Solow on Obama’s vision for peace:

President Obama believes it is in America’s interest for a secure Jewish State of Israel to live in peace within the region and every step that he has advocated is consistent with this objective. I agree with President Obama and believe that the likely alternative is a bi-national state that will mark the end of the Zionist dream.

Solow on the alleged “crisis” in U.S.-Israel relations:

There is no such crisis. Military and diplomatic coordination are at an extraordinarily high level. President Obama has hosted Prime Minister Netanyahu five times more than any other foreign leader. The joint military exercises during the Obama Administration are unprecedented as is United States assistance, including special support for Iron Dome.

In fact, under the Obama Administration, Israel continues to stand as the leading beneficiary of US security assistance funds for military training and equipment accounting for over 50 percent of US foreign military funding. Israeli forces have also been granted access to advanced US military hardware and emergency stockpiles.

Bilateral security consultations and cooperation are at an all-time high level and the Obama Administration has worked tirelessly to re-establish Israel’s qualitative military edge. As President Obama recently said, ‘Israel must be able to defend itself-by itself- against any threat.’

The United States consistently fights on behalf of Israel in the United Nations on issues ranging from the Goldstone report to attempts by the Palestinian leadership to avoid negotiations with Israel. As we both know, there are a number of different ideas on how to achieve peace, which leads to differences of opinion and criticism of public figures, including President Obama and Prime Minister Netanyahu.

Solow on whether the Obama Administration has made “any mistakes when it comes to Israel-related policies” [emphasis added]:

This issue has been ongoing since 1948 and President Obama has been more outwardly aggressive in attempting to forge peace early in his term than were his predecessors. That President Obama has done so expressly in the context of putting Israel’s security requirements as a top priority while recognizing Israel’s Jewish identity is an enormous positive. While there have been times when I would have preferred that American language on issues such as settlement expansion had been more precise, overall I am completely supportive of President Obama’s approach to break the logjam in which we find ourselves. He has worked hard to mobilize support for Israel, has led the movement to impose strong international sanctions against Iran and has continuously supported, in word and deed, Israel’s rights as a Jewish state. There have been no policies actually implemented by the Administration, as opposed to those which have been rumored, that have been anything other than supportive of Israel.

Solow on Israel’s importance to the Jewish vote in 2012:

President Obama received 78 per cent of the Jewish vote in 2008. It is too early in the election cycle to predict the 2012 result with any degree of precision, but I am confident that as President Obama’s policies are more widely and accurately understood, he will have the support of Jewish-American voters….

Jewish Americans always have the safety and security of Israel as a high political priority. I am confident that President Obama will be supported by a wide majority of Jewish Americans in 2012 in great part because of his strong support for a safe and secure Jewish State of Israel.

Click here to read the full interview.

 

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