From THE JERUSALEM POST Feb. 25, 2008, by Hilary Leila Krieger, jpost correspondent in WASHINGTON:
"I think there is a strain within the pro-Israel community that says unless you adopt an unwavering pro-Likud approach to Israel, then you're anti-Israel..." leading Democratic presidential contender Illinois Senator Barack Obama said Sunday.
"If we cannot have an honest dialogue about how do we achieve these goals, then we're not going to make progress," he said. He also criticized the notion that anyone who asks tough questions about advancing the peace process or tries to secure Israel by anyway other than "just crushing the opposition" is being "soft or anti-Israel."
Obama made the comments in a closed-door meeting with several members of Cleveland's Jewish community....
Obama defended - and distanced - himself from criticism that has been leveled at him about some of his campaign advisers and endorsers, but he suggested that too black-and-white a perspective on the Israeli-Palestinian conflict helped no one.
He described the debate in Israel as "much more open" than it often is in the United States.
"Understandably, because of the pressure that Israel is under, I think the US pro-Israel community is sometimes a little more protective ..." he continued. ....
He also again noted his disagreement with some of the critical statements on Israel made by the pastor of his church, which he ascribed to the latter's support for the anti-apartheid struggle in South Africa at a time that Israel continued to trade with the regime there....
...Also on Sunday, Ralph Nader, while declaring his third-party candidacy for the US presidency, attacked Obama for allegedly concealing his "pro-Palestinian" feelings. ...
......The progressive candidate's opening shot at Obama over Israel intensified a debate raging ... over whether the Illinois senator has solid pro-Israel credentials. Nader's comments were quickly seized upon by the Republican Jewish Coalition. "When a long-time political activist like Ralph Nader, with a well-documented, anti-Israel bias, claims that Senator Obama shares this anti-Israel bias, that is alarming," said RJC Executive Director Matt Brooks.
"If Senator Obama has only reversed his positions to run for president, it once again raises serious questions about his grasp of the geopolitical realities of the Middle East and puts into doubt his commitment to the safety and security of Israel. These are important questions we in the Jewish community will be asking."
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