Jewish Congress heaping pressure on Obama

Manama: The World Jewish Congress is heaping up pressure on US President Barack Obama, challenging him to state publicly whether his administration was committed to Israel's security.

In a letter he reportedly drafted with the approval of his close friend Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu, the president of the World Jewish Congress, Ronald Lauder asked why the Obama administration has taken such a critical stance toward Israel amid efforts to revive stalled Middle East peace talks.

"Why does the thrust of this administration's Middle East rhetoric seem to blame Israel for the lack of movement on peace talks? After all, it is the Palestinians, not Israel, who refuse to negotiate," wrote Lauder in a letter published on Thursday as an advertisement in The Washington Post and The Wall Street Journal.

"Can it be true that America is no longer committed to a final status agreement that provides defensible borders for Israel? Is a new course being charted that would leave Israel with the indefensible borders that invited invasion prior to 1967?"

According to the New York Times, Lauder said he discussed the letter with Netanyahu and received his support before taking out the advertisement.

Lauder is considered the closest Jewish leader to Netanyahu. He is one of the richest Jews in the world, and has been a major donor to Netanyahu during elections over recent years, Israeli daily Haaretz reported.

During his first term as prime minister in the late 1990s, Netanyahu appointed Lauder as his envoy in negotiations with Syria.

Obama this week said that resolving the long-running Middle East dispute was a “vital national security interest of the United States,” highlighting, according to the New York Times, a change that has resulted from a lengthy debate among his top officials over how best to balance support for Israel against other American interests.

Obama said conflicts like the one in the Middle East ended up “costing us significantly in terms of both blood and treasure.”

His words immediately echoed an earlier statement by Gen. David H. Petraeus, the military commander overseeing America’s wars in Iraq and Afghanistan, who told the US Congress that the lack of progress in the Middle East created a hostile environment for the United States.

Calls by US senior officials on Israel to think peace with Palestine are not new, although they at times draw little attention.

Three years ago, Condoleezza Rice, then secretary of state, said that a peace deal between Israel and the Palestinians was a “strategic interest” of the United States.

“In our view, the security of the … Jewish state ultimately requires the creation of a responsible Palestinian state … If the Palestinians are losing hope, especially among the young, we have a great danger before us. The prolonged experience of deprivation and humiliation can radicalize even normal people,” she said.