White House Chief of Staff Rahm Emanuel says the Obama administration had “screwed up” in demonstrating its support of Israel over the last year, and acknowledges it will probably take months before it can win back Jewish support.
“During the elections there were doubts about President Obama’s support for Israel, and now they have resurfaced,” Emanuel told a group of prominent rabbis who visited the White House Thursday, according to The Jerusalem Post. “But concerning policy, we have done everything that we can that is in Israel’s security – and long-range interests. Watch what the administration does.”
Backing Emanuel was veteran Mideast envoy Dennis Ross, who now runs the administration’s Iran policy. He tried to assure the rabbis that the United States had no plans to pressure Israel to reveal its own alleged nuclear stockpiles by calling for a nuclear-free Middle East.
Emanuel said that the administration’s priorities in the Middle East center around three issues: isolating Iran, “removing America’s footprint in Iraq,” which is perceived as an intrusion into Arab and Muslim lands, and the Israeli-Palestinian peace process, which he said is key to Israel’s security and also helps both Israel and the U.S.
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