Obama & Israel
http://blogs.abcnews.com/politicalpunch/2007/03/obama_israel_an.html
Obama, Israel, and the Jewish Vote
All Democratic eyes are on Selma right now, but something interesting
happened Friday as well…
Seeking to assure supporters of Israel that he is as ardent a backer
of the Jewish state as are rivals such as Sens. Hillary Clinton, D-
NY, and John Edwards, D-NC, Sen. Barack Obama, D-Illinois, delivered
a very pro-Israel address to the American Israel Public Affairs
Committee of Chicago at the end of last week.
“Our job is to rebuild the road to real peace and lasting security
throughout the region,” Obama said. “Our job is to do more than lay
out another road map. That effort begins with a clear and strong
commitment to the security of Israel: Our strongest ally in the
region and its only established democracy. That will always be my
starting point.”
But now comes a very interesting blog entry by the pro-Palestinian
blogger Ali Abunimah at The Electronic Intifadah, who alleges that
Obama has changed to a far more stridently pro-Israel position as his
national aspirations developed.
“The last time I spoke to Obama was in the winter of 2004 at a
gathering in Chicago’s Hyde Park neighborhood,” Abunimah writes. “He
was in the midst of a primary campaign to secure the Democratic
nomination for the United States Senate seat he now occupies. But at
that time polls showed him trailing.
“As he came in from the cold and took off his coat, I went up to
greet him. He responded warmly, and volunteered, ‘Hey, I’m sorry I
haven’t said more about Palestine right now, but we are in a tough
primary race. I’m hoping when things calm down I can be more up
front.’ He referred to my activism, including columns I was
contributing to the The Chicago Tribune critical of Israeli and US
policy, ‘Keep up the good work!”
As the campaigns compete for Jewish support, it would be political
malpractice for rivals campaigns to not send this blog entry around
to big pro-Israel donor