among American children.
Also present at the meeting were
representatives of Americans for
Peace Now, the Orthodox Union,
the United Jewish Communities,
Hadassah, the United Synagogue of
Conservative Judaism, the Jewish
Council for Public Affairs and the
American Jewish Committee.
Participants said the meeting, at
a round table in the White House's
Roosevelt Room, was relaxed and
friendly.
"The comfort level was mag-
nificent; there were no notes': said
Ira Forman, CEO of the National
Jewish Democratic Council.
Obama teased Rahm Emanuel,
his chief of staff, and David
Axelrod, his top political adviser,
both of whom attended the meet-
ing and are Jewish.
"If Axelrod or Rahm ignore you,
don't blame me," he said.
Ha'aretz published a story last
week in which it claimed that
Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin
Netayahu had privately referred
to both Obama aides as self-hat-
ing Jews. A Netanyahu spokesman,
Mark Regev, was later quoted by
the Plum Line blog as denying the
claim, saying, "I've never heard the
prime minister use such language
Meanwhile, one of Obama's most
prominent Jewish backers, Alan
Dershowitz, has received harsh
criticism from some Jewish conser-
vatives for writing an opinion piece
in the Wall Street Journal defending
the president.
The critics are accusing
Dershowitz, a Harvard Law School
professor with a long track record
of fighting anti-Israel efforts on
campus, of essentially abandon-
ing Israel out of loyalty to the
Democratic Party.
In response, Dershowitz wrote
a piece on FrontPageMagazine.
corn, saying he believes that "a
young, extremely popular African-
American president who supports
Israel, even if he disagrees with
its policies regarding settlement
expansion, would be far more influ-
ential with mainstream Americans
and with people throughout the
world than an old conservative
Republican, who also supported
Israel."
"That is why," Dershowitz wrote,
"I gave, and continued to give,
President Barack Obama the ben-
efit of the doubt in his dealings
with Israel." ❑

011

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July 23 . 2009

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