Philadelphia, UNITED STATES (AFP)
Democratic hopeful Barak Obama said Wednesday that as president he would do his utmost to help Israel defend itself from any threat and said he would reject all anti-Israeli U.N. resolutions concluding with Israel should be a Jewish state.
"As president, I will do everything that I can to help (Israel) protect itself ... We will make sure that it can defend itself from any attack, whether it comes from as close as Gaza or as far as Tehran," Obama told a synagogue in Philadelphia, according to his campaign aides.
Obama told to his audience he was a friend both of the Jewish community and of Israel, his campaign said.
The Illinois senator, whose middle name Hussein has raised concern among critics that he harbors Muslim sympathies -- he is a Christian -- spoke to 75 representatives of the Jewish community in Pennsylvania's biggest city, a week ahead of the state's key primary in the race for the White House.
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Obama on Jerusalem Asked about the future of Jerusalem, which Israel took over in the 1967 Arab-Israeli war, Obama said it was up to the parties involved to decide, but stressed that returning the city to its pre-1967 partitioned state "is not an acceptable option."
Obama said that because of his background, he was "uniquely positioned" to help Israel.
"My links to the Jewish community are not political. They preceded my entry into politics."
He also promised that if he were elected president, the United States would continue to veto anti-Israeli resolutions at the United Nations.
Robert Wexler, Florida Democrat in the House of Representatives, told reporters after the meeting that Obama "unequivocally rejects the Palestinian right of return" -- a perennial sticking point in Palestinian-Israeli peace talks -- because he understands that Israel must remain a Jewish state.
He said U.S.-Israeli cooperation, although successful, "can be deepened and strengthened." |
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Get tough on Carter Obama, who has said he would meet with U.S. enemies Iran and Cuba if elected president, criticized Carter's expected meeting in Cairo with Hamas, stressing: "Hamas is not a state, Hamas is a terrorist organization."
Later, Obama faced pressure from the Republican presidential candidate John McCain, who told Fox News that he and Democratic rival Hillary Clinton should get much tougher with Carter, a fellow Democrat.
"These are thugs and murderers," McCain said.
"Senator Obama and Senator Clinton should directly repudiate and tell President Carter he should not meet with what is, fundamentally, a terrorist (group) that's been responsible for the deaths of so many innocent people."
"They are a terrorist organization. No former president of the United States should be meeting with them." |
