At U.N., Obama affirms 'unshakeable' support for Israel
— -- U.S. support for Israel remains "unshakeable," President Obama told the United Nations General Assembly Wednesday, and Palestinian leaders should ditch their plan to petition the international body for statehood.
"Peace will not come through statements and resolutions at the United Nations - if it were that easy, it would have been accomplished by now," Obama said. "Ultimately, it is the Israelis and the Palestinians - not us - who must reach agreement on the issues that divide them: on borders and on security, on refugees and Jerusalem."
Obama's speech followed an onslaught of criticism from Republicans and Israeli advocates, who said the president was endangering Israel.
Unlike previous high-profile comments on the Middle East, Obama avoided any mention of borders of a future Palestinian state. He also pointedly noted that Israel is "surrounded by neighbors that have waged repeated wars against it" and reflected on the plight of Israel citizens in the decades-old conflict.
The president made the Israeli-Palestinian dispute the centerpiece of his annual address to the United Nations General Assembly, devoted to what the president called "the pursuit of peace in an imperfect world." This past year has seen an "extraordinary transformation," Obama said, citing government changes in Egypt, Tunisia, and Libya.
The president's supporters in the American Jewish community heralded his remarks as demonstrating that he remains committed to safeguarding Israel, while some GOP lawmakers blasted Obama's call for the Palestinians to drop their statehood petition as toothless.
"Once again, the president did not mention any consequences for U.S. funding for the Palestinians or for the U.N. if they proceeded down this anti-Israel, anti-peace course,"said Rep. Ileana Ros-Lehtinen, R-Fla., the chairwoman of House Foreign Affairs Committee.
In the leadup to this week's meetings, Republicans blasted Obama's Israeli-Palestinian policy, charging that Obama was hostile to Israel's concerns. Obama's Middle East policy became a central issue in this month's special congressional election in New York, where a Republican swept to victory in a heavily Democratic and Jewish area. On Tuesday, Texas Gov. and Republican presidential candidate Rick Perry traveled to New York to criticize Obama's Middle East policy, while fellow Republican presidential hopeful Mitt Romney accused the administration of "repeated efforts over three years to throw Israel under the bus."
With his speech, Obama made clear that he's taken a "common sense" approach in his Middle East policy that is ultimately "pro-Israel," countered Robert Wexler, a former Democratic congressman from Florida who is aiding the Obama re-election campaign's Jewish outreach efforts.
Wexler also criticized Perry for advocating Israel building settlements in the West Bank and calling for the United States to reconsider funding of the Palestinian Authority if it moves ahead with application toward statehood. If the UN pulled funding, the move would potentially endanger Israeli security and embolden Hamas, Wexler said.
"Gov. Perry is advocating a set of policies that would undermine the state of Israel and harm the United States," Wexler said.
Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu, who has clashed with Obama in the past, commended the U.S. president for "standing with Israel" before their meeting on the sidelines of the U.N. session. Obama also met with Palestinian President Mahmoud Abbas on Wednesday.
Obama's speech was contradictory, said Marwan Muasher, a former Jordanian deputy prime minister, because the president heralded a year in which the Arab Spring led to end of dictatorships in the Middle East and North Africa, but he did not back the Palestinians.
"Every day the Israeli occupation continues, its going to be harder for the United States to argue … that if you're yearning for freedom that the U.S is with you," said Muasher, a Middle East analyst at the Carnegie Endowment for International Peace.
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