Israelis and Palestinians Greet Obama’s Message to Jewish Voters with Skepticism

By Joanna Chen 

Barack Obama is trying to persuade Jewish voters that he will maintain Washington's pro-Israel stance. Israelis, however, are less convinced. Shortly after the newly minted Democratic presidential nominee delivered a strong and well received speech to the American Israel Political Action Committee’s policy conference on Wednesday, political analysts in the Jewish state remained skeptical about Obama. “People have a major problem with him here in Israel,” says Yaron Deckel, a political analyst for Channel One TV. "When I ask Israelis who would be their choice for U.S. president, Obama always comes last, after John McCain and Hillary Clinton. He’s an unknown candidate.”

Obama is unlikely to stay unknown for long. But no matter how aggressively he courts Jewish Americans, Israelis are likely to remain leery of a candidate they perceive as lacking in foreign-policy experience. "We are the kings of history,” says one Israeli government official who asked to remain anonymous because he has close ties to Washington. “And he has no history. There is a real fear that Obama may be less aggressive and less forthcoming than his predecessor.”

Israelis are especially worried about how an Obama administration would handle Iran. In spite of his promise to prevent Iran developing nuclear weapons, commentators here think that he just may not be tough enough. "Given the likelihood that Iran will cross the nuclear threshold in the near future, it is critical that the next U.S. president will deal decisively with the Iranian threat," Dore Gold, former Israeli ambassador to the United Nations, told NEWSWEEK. Nahum Barnea, political commentator for the Israeli daily Yedioth Ahronot, expresses similar misgivings. "Obama's basic approach is softer and he may be willing to speak with Mahmoud Ahmadinejad under certain conditions," says Barnea  "This is of course a problem for Israel, which certainly advocates a military solution." Ofer Shelach, a leading Israeli commentator, concurs that "the main question Israelis are concerned with is Iran and there is serious apprehension that Obama will quite simply not do enough."

While Israelis fretted over Iran, Palestinians had their own concerns. Some, like Sameeh Shabeeb, a Palestinian analyst at Bir Zeit University, said he was “not at all optimistic” after Obama’s “dangerous” AIPAC speech. “Obama is saying that he is no different from any other American who has given full support for Israel,” Shabeeb said in an interview with Ma’an News. Palestinian political analyst Hani el-Masri was also disappointed about Obama’s AIPAC address. “We do not want another Bush policy and are hoping that [Obama] will be less extreme in his vision towards the Arabs and their rights,” he said. Nonetheless, el-Masri did harbor some hope that Obama could “create a positive impact on events in the Middle East.”