Washington
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Democrats join
Republicans in questioning Obama’s policy on Israel
By Peter Wallsten
Published May 24
Top Democrats have joined a number of Republicans in challenging
President Obama’s policy toward Israel, further exposing rifts that the
White House and its allies will seek to mend before next year’s
election.
The differences, on display as senior lawmakers addressed a pro-Israel
group late Monday and Tuesday, stem from Obama’s calls in recent days
for any peace deal between Israel and the Palestinians to be based on
boundaries that existed before the 1967 Arab-Israeli war, combined with
“mutually agreed swaps” of territory.
Senate Majority Leader Harry M. Reid (Nev.), House Minority Whip Steny
H. Hoyer (Md.) and other Democrats appeared to reject the president’s
reference to the 1967 lines in his latest attempt to nudge along peace
talks, thinking that he was giving away too much, too soon.
White House officials say Obama’s assertion did not reflect a shift in
U.S. policy. But the president’s comments touched a nerve among
pro-Israel activists, drew a rare Oval Office rebuke from Is raeli
Prime Minister Binyamin Netanyahu and instantly became a litmus test in
domestic American politics.
Now Obama — whom critics often accuse of employing a play-it-safe
governing style in which he waits for others to take the lead — is
largely isolated politically in raising the issue of boundaries.
By this week, White House aides were reaching out to Israel supporters
in the Jewish community to try to ease concerns, according to people
familiar with the effort. The White House has arranged a conference
call with Jewish leaders and contacted others for advice on repairing
ties.
The political uproar, coming as Netanyahu received a bipartisan hero’s
welcome Tuesday for a speech to Congress, underscored the careful
calculations being made by leaders in both parties.
Democrats and Obama must balance the need to pursue delicate
international diplomacy while retaining the party’s traditional support
among Jewish campaign donors and voters, particularly in competitive
states such as Florida, Ohio and Pennsylvania. The party’s liberal
base, however, is divided, with many on the left urging more
concessions by Israel.
Republicans increasingly consider Israel a core issue that can unify
sometimes disparate party factions, with evangelical voters and foreign
policy hawks alike emerging as some of the Jewish state’s most vocal
U.S. backers.
Netanyahu, who since Thursday has repeatedly called the 1967 borders
“indefensible,” helped set the stage for the torrent of White House
criticism.
His response was quickly followed by criticism from Republicans vying
to take on Obama next year. Former Massachusetts governor Mitt Romney,
the presumed GOP front-runner, accused the president of throwing Israel
“under the bus.” Former Minnesota governor Tim Pawlenty said Obama had
made a “mistaken and very dangerous demand.”
Read the rest of the story at the Washington Post
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