Obamas anti Israel statements

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http://www.forward.com/articles/12508/   





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Internal Memo Takes on Obama’s Approach to Middle East


By Jennifer Siegel
Sun. Jan 20, 2008
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A confidential memo questioning Senator Barack Obama’s potential approach to Middle East policy was circulated earlier this month among staffers at a major American Jewish organization.

“The Senator’s interpretation of the NIE raises questions,” wrote Debra Feuer, a counsel for the American Jewish Committee, one day after the Illinois Democrat surged to victory in the Iowa caucus.

Referring to the Israeli-Palestinian conflict, she added that Obama “appears to believe the Israelis bear the burden of taking the risky steps for peace, and that the violence Israel has received in return does not shift that burden.”

The memo, a copy of which was given to the Forward, also contains a discussion of the Republican winner in the Iowa caucuses, Mike Huckabee.

According to the AJCommittee, the memo was circulated to “help the agency better understand the winners’ positions on certain public policy issues concerning the agency.”

It comes to light less than three weeks before February 5, when the vast majority of the country’s Jewish Democrats will vote in Super Tuesday states including New York, New Jersey and California.

As that date approaches, Obama has found himself at the center of a public debate about his personal associations, commitment to Israel and background. Earlier this week, the Chicago lawmaker responded to revived concerns about links between Nation of Islam leader Louis Farrakhan and his pastor in Chicago, even as a number of Jewish senators and major Jewish organizations — including the American Jewish Committee — publicly denounced an email campaign spreading false accusations that he is secretly a Muslim. The editorial page of the staunchly conservative New York Sun newspaper recently defended the senator’s commitment to Israel.

However, the memo circulated at the American Jewish Committee betrays a quiet unease about Obama’s potential Middle East strategy that still lingers in some pockets of the Jewish community. As a whole, the seven-page memo is a compilation of the various public statements on the Middle East made by Obama and Huckabee. Feuer, the AJCommittee’s counsel for special projects includes a number of statements Obama has made in support of Israel and against a nuclear Iran, but she questions Obama’s approach to the Israeli-Palestinian conflict and emphasis on diplomatic engagement.

Obama “appears to believe the Israelis bear the burden of taking the risky steps for peace, and that the violence Israel has received in return does not shift that burden … rather than referring to mutual concessions, such as the reciprocal steps as required by the roadmap,” Feuer writes. She added that Obama’s approach to the Palestinian government “contrasts with the three conditions that the international community has laid down for the resumption of aid” including acting to stop terrorism and accepting the right of Israel to exist.

After stating that the senator’s interpretation of the latest National Intelligence Estimate on Iran “raises questions” Feuer includes a half-dozen statements the Illinois lawmaker has made in support of renewed diplomacy with Iran, and notes that “he also calls for negotiating with other rogue states, notably Syria.”

Under a section titled “Of Further Note,” Feuer takes note of Obama’s presence at a fundraiser headlined by the late Edward Said in 1998, and public suggestions by Ali Abunimah, a Chicago-based Palestinian activist, that Obama was more openly critical of the America’s approach to the Israeli-Palestinian conflict before his first run for Senate.

The memo also includes several pages of statements by Huckabee on Middle East issues, but without editorial comment, except to note the Huckabee “inexplicably” said he had not seen the NIE when first asked about it by reporters on December 4. Under a section titled “Of Further Note” about Huckabee, Feuer states his campaign is “overtly Christian” and details a half-dozen comments and commercials referencing his faith.

Officials at the American Jewish Committee declined to answer questions about the memo.

“This was an internal document prepared by a staffer of AJC’s Washington office the day after the Iowa caucuses.,” said a statement in response to the Forward. “We regret the fact it has been circulated, as it was for AJC purposes only. Its only intention, however expressed by the writer, was to try and help the agency better understand the winners’ positions on certain public policy issues concerning the agency.”

The Obama campaign did not respond to a request for comment.