[R-G] AJC Internal Memo Takes on Obama’s Mideast Approach

[Yoshie Furuhashi]

Both accusations against Obama (too soft on Iran, the Palestinians,
etc.; "secretly being a Muslim" and having a pastor linked to the
Nation of Islam; etc.) and their rebuttals show how insane US politics
is, especially when it comes to the Middle East -- Yoshie

<http://www.forward.com/articles/12543/>
Internal Memo Takes On Obama's Mideast Approach

By Jennifer Siegel
Wed. Jan 23, 2008

A confidential memo questioning Senator Barack Obama's potential
approach to Middle East policy was distributed earlier this month
among staffers at a major American Jewish organization.

Obama's approach to dealing with Iran "raises questions," said the
document, which circulated within the American Jewish Committee. It
also suggested that Obama placed the burden of solving the
Israeli-Palestinian conflict primarily on the Jewish state.

The memo, a copy of which was given to the Forward, was written by
Debra Feuer, the AJCommittee's counsel for special projects. It also
contained information about the Republican winner in the Iowa
caucuses, Mike Huckabee.

After receiving questions from the Forward, top officials at the
AJCommittee contacted Obama last Sunday. They sent a letter stating
that "no element" of the memo "should be considered a position of the
American Jewish Committee" and expressing "regret" that the document
became public. Several days later, the AJCommittee disavowed the
document in stronger terms, saying that it "contained inaccuracies" in
a public statement.

The memo comes to light less than three weeks before February 5, when
the vast majority of the country's Jewish Democrats will vote in
primary elections held by New York, New Jersey, California,
Massachusetts and Illinois.

As that date approaches, Obama has found himself at the center of
several public exchanges concerning his personal associations, his
background and his commitment to Israel. Earlier this month, the
Chicago lawmaker responded to revived concerns about links between
Nation of Islam leader Louis Farrakhan and the senator's personal
pastor, even as a number of Jewish senators and major Jewish
organizations — including the AJCommittee — publicly denounced an
e-mail smear campaign that falsely accused Obama of secretly being a
Muslim. Meanwhile, as reports have surfaced in recent weeks that
Republicans planned to question Obama's commitment to Israel, the
senator found several unlikely defenders, including the editorial page
of the staunchly conservative New York Sun.

Advocates for the senator point out that over the years, he has
courted and received strong backing from the Chicago Jewish community
and has built a strong pro-Israel record. Last March, he gave the
first foreign policy speech of his presidential campaign before a
meeting of a pro-Israel lobby, the American Israel Public Affairs
Committee.

But even as officials at the AJCommittee have repudiated the leaked
memo as rushed and inaccurate, it betrays a quiet unease about Obama's
potential Middle East strategy that still lingers in some pockets of
the Jewish community.

Quoting Obama's much buzzed-about statement early in the campaign that
"no one has suffered more than the Palestinians," Feuer questioned the
lawmaker's potential as a peace broker.

"He appears to believe the Israelis bear the burden of taking the
risky steps for peace, and that the violence Israel has received in
return does not shift that burden," Feuer wrote.

She also expressed concern about Obama's emphasis on diplomacy,
particularly in dealing with Iran and other "rogue states."

"The Senator's interpretation of the NIE raises questions," Feuer
wrote, referring to the new National Intelligence Estimate, released
in November 2007, which determined that Iran had halted its alleged
nuclear weapons program in 2003. While Feuer did not explicitly
elaborate further, she included a number of statements Obama has made
that encourage diplomatic engagement with Tehran and are critical of
the Bush administration.

Feuer also noted Obama's presence at a fundraiser headlined in 1998 by
the now late Edward Said, and of public suggestions by Ali Abunimah, a
Chicago-based Palestinian activist, that the senator was more openly
critical of America's approach to the Israeli-Palestinian conflict
before his first run for Senate.

The memo also includes several pages of statements by Huckabee on
Middle East issues, without editorial comment on those policies but
noting the "overtly Christian" nature of Huckabee's campaign.

Officials at the AJCommittee have rushed to repair the fallout from
the memo, which cast the nonpartisan group in an uncomfortable role as
campaign critic. Earlier this month, the AJCommittee took the lead in
speaking out against the rumors targeting Obama.

"We regret any inaccuracies that the memorandum, prepared from open
sources on a tight deadline immediately after the caucuses — and never
intended for publication — might have contained," wrote Richard
Sideman and David Harris, respectively AJCommittee's president and
executive director, in a letter sent to Obama on January 20.

The Obama campaign did not respond to a request for comment.

In an interview with the Forward, one of the senator's chief backers,
Florida Rep. Robert Wexler, argued that the memo reflected "political
bias on the part of the drafter of the memo, rather than the facts."

Wexler, who chairs Obama's campaign in Florida, said he took
particular issue with the idea that Obama's calls for diplomacy should
cause alarm within Jewish circles, given that a number of Jewish
lawmakers have advocated the same position.

"The whole notion that if a lawmaker supports renewed diplomacy with
Iran, that that somehow suggests a position that the American Jewish
community should be concerned about — well, put me on the top of that
list," Wexler said. "Put Tom Lantos on the top of that list, put
Howard Berman and Gary Ackerman on the top of that list."
--
Yoshie
<http://montages.blogspot.com/>