US President Barack Obama met with American Jewish Orthodox representatives at the White House Tuesday, as he refuted claims of anti-Israel bias, insisting his administration is “more attentive to Israelis than Palestinians”.
His address came during a meeting between White House Chief of Staff Jack Lew, who is an Orthodox Jew himself, and US Orthodox leaders, including Orthodox Union (OU) Public Policy Director Nathan Diament, Yeshiva University President Richard Joel and OU President Dr Simcha Katz, and followed a meeting with their Liberal counterparts last week. The president asserted that US discord with Israel was presumed, as traditionally a centrist US government is thought to coexist more naturally with a right-wing government, but insisted he maintains a good personal relationship with Israeli Premier Benjamin Netanyahu. Continuing to emphasize his government’s support for Israel, he invoked the White House’s concern for Israel’s needs in its directives for a two-state solution as the strongest sign that it is pro-Zionist.
While he continued to express hopes for eventual peace between Israelis and Palestinians, he admitted it was ‘possible’ that Palestinian President Mahmoud Abbas may no longer be interested in peace and that the window for peace negotiations may already have closed.
The Orthodox community is traditionally thought to be more critical of Obama than their Conservative counterparts, opposing him on issues such as federal funding for religious day schools, gay rights, and parts of Obama’s healthcare law they claim infringe on the rights of faith institutions, such as whether religious hospitals should perform abortions and circumcisions.
The Jewish demographic has long been seen as invaluable in helping to secure victory for a presidential candidate. Obama himself secured an unprecedented 78% of the Jewish vote in the 2008 presidential election and will hope to poll similar figures in the November 6 battle by assuaging the concerns of the community.
According to a survey published in April by the American Jewish Commnittee (AJC) on the US Jewish electorate, 42% of Jewish voters would choose Obama on the issue of US-Jewish relations, compared to 45% for Republican candidate Mitt Romney. 22% of Jews said it was the most important issue in deciding which candidate to vote for. 61% of Jews said they’d vote for Obama if the election was held today, with 28% opting for Romney. For Romney’s team, this dip of 17% of Jewish support for Obama from the previous election, could be enough to swing victory for their candidate. However, the Jewish vote is considered to be more resolutely Democrat in the US, where analysts claim the community’s vote is more guided by economics than Israel.
The AJC survey confirmed that 80% of US Jews consider the economy as the most important factor in determining their vote.

EJP