Leaders of the Conference of Presidents and its member organizations met today with President Barack Obama at the White House to discuss U.S.-Israel relations, ongoing changes in the Middle East and other issues.
The 50-person delegation, led by Conference of Presidents Chairman Alan Solow and Executive Vice Chairman Malcolm Hoenlein, also met with David S. Cohen, the Department of Treasury’s Acting Under Secretary for Terrorism and Financial Intelligence regarding sanctions against Iran; Dennis Ross, Special Assistant to the President and Senior Director for the Central Region and Daniel B. Shapiro, Senior Director for the Middle East and North Africa at the National Security Council, who addressed issues relating to Middle East peace; and with Republican and Democratic congressional leaders including House Speaker John Boehner, House Majority Leader Eric Cantor, House Majority Whip Kevin McCarthy and House Minority Whip Steny Hoyer.
During the almost one-hour session, President Obama addressed issues including the recent veto of the anti-Israel resolution at the United Nations Security Council, the ongoing changes taking place in the Middle East and prospects of peace between Israel and its neighbors. He then fielded questions from the leaders.
Following the meeting with the President, Mr. Solow and Mr. Hoenlein said, “We appreciate the extraordinary session we had with President Obama today during which we were able to engage in an open dialogue relating to issues of concern to the Jewish community. The President reaffirmed his deep commitment to Israel’s security and set out his view as to how the United States can promote the values it shares with Israel as the region undergoes change. The open lines of communication with President Obama and his Administration are highly valued and provide us with the opportunity to articulate the views of American Jewry on issues that face our country.”
They added, “The strong bipartisan support for strengthening the U.S.-Israel relationship in all its aspects was evident from the meetings with the congressional leaders. They also spoke of concerns regarding the U.N. continuing to single out Israel in one-sided resolutions, the status of foreign aid to Israel and other countries, and other issues on the congressional agenda. We believe that the discussions are of great importance to inform the leadership of our member organizations, and have the leaders of our country hear their perspectives and concerns.”
The White House released the following statement following the meeting:
Today, President Obama had a productive discussion with members of the Conference of Presidents of Major American Jewish Organizations.
He reiterated America’s unshakeable support for Israel’s security, opposition to any effort to de-legitimize it or single it out for criticism, and commitment to achieve a peace that will secure the future for Arabs and Israelis alike.
The President praised the core Jewish values of freedom and democracy, human rights, and tikkun olam (to repair the world). He also acknowledged that those values extend not only to events in the Middle East, but to the challenges here at home, thanking the Jewish community leaders for their support to ensure that America continues to out-educate, out-innovate, and out-build the competition in order to win the future.
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4 Responses
Besides licking up to the President, I would like to know if they’ve asked President Obama why has he ignored repetitive requests from leading Rabbis, Congressman, Senators from all over the spectrum around the world on releasing Jonathan Pollard who’s been in Jail for over 26 years and is long due to have been released and if they did what was his response-my gut feeling tells me he won’t release Jonathan Pollard until closer to the presidential elections inorder to win over the Jewish vote while it will still be fresh in the mind of the Jewish voter. We should campaign and make a million man march to Washington and demonstrate on Pollard behalf to release him earlier-enough is enough!!
Tikkum Olam has nothing to do with jewish values, its a liberal idea. Its rubbish!
No. 1: The last guy to propose a “million man march” was Farrakhan, who is a disgrace to himself and the causes he supports. Find another phrase.
No. 2: What is the Torahic source of your statement that Tikkun Olam is rubbish? I suppose it is a liberal idea, so I suppose you consider yourself authorized to write it out of the Torah.
Obama once again bends over for klal yisroel while people like Malcolm Heonlein act as though Obama is the enemy