Washington – Jewish donors and fund-raisers are warning the Obama re-election campaign that the president is at risk of losing financial support because of concerns about his handling of Israel.
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Some Jewish donors say President Barack Obama has pushed Israeli leaders too hard to halt construction of housing settlements in disputed territory, a longstanding element of U.S. policy. Some also worry that Mr. Obama is putting more pressure on the Israelis than the Palestinians to enter peace negotiations, and that the president has allowed relations with Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu to fray.
One top Democratic fund-raiser, Miami developer Michael Adler, said he urged Obama campaign manager Jim Messina to be “extremely proactive” in countering the perception in the Jewish community that Mr. Obama is too critical of Israel.
He said his conversations with Mr. Messina were aimed at addressing the problems up front. “This was going around finding out what our weaknesses are so we can run the best campaign,” said Mr. Adler, who hosted a fund-raiser at his home for Mr. Obama earlier this year.
“Good friends tell you how to can improve. They don’t tell you ‘everything’s great’ and then you find out nobody buys the food in your restaurants,” he said.
It is difficult to assess how widespread the complaints are, but Jewish fund-raisers for Mr. Obama say they regularly hear discontent among people who donated to Mr. Obama in 2008.
The Obama campaign has asked Penny Pritzker, Mr. Obama’s 2008 national finance chairwoman, to talk with Jewish leaders about their concerns, Ms. Pritzker said. So far, she said, she’s met with about a half dozen people. She said the campaign is in the process of assembling a larger team for similar outreach.
“I do think there’s an education job to be done, because there’s lots of myths that abound and misunderstandings of the administration’s record,” she said. “The campaign is aggressively getting the information out there.”
Robert Copeland, a Virginia Beach, Va., developer, who has given large donations to many Democrats, has already decided he won’t vote for Mr. Obama in 2012. “I’m very disappointed with him,” he said. “His administration has failed in Israel. They degraded the Israeli people.”
The Republicans see an opening. In April, former Massachusetts Gov. Mitt Romney told a gathering of the Republican Jewish Coalition that Mr. Obama should have delivered criticism of Israel’s settlement policy privately. And last year, a poll by McLaughlin & Associates found that 46% of American Jews said they would consider voting for someone other than Mr. Obama.
Read full article in Wall Street Journal
President Obama was not at all so bad to Israel, He did give alot of money to them, buy was not at all giving support to Palestinians, so what’s the hush?
telling israel to finally evict jews from their homes … is that a freind of the jewish people?????
Sick people!
We need to focus on who’s a good president for americans and for jews. How off there mind could one be to focus only on the president’s actions regarding Israel
For us jews is Israel one of the main focus because if the palestinians fight with the jews in Israel you will feel it automatically in the whole world.
Sick peoplej, Reb Yona? Half the world’s Jews live in Eretz Israel, and this President Obama is putting our lives at risk! Where is your compassion? The sick people are the ones who voted for Obama, and insist on voting for him again!
Jewish donors need to worry about how Obama is turning the USA into a banana republic.
Obama has NO right to tell Israel what to do. Let Obama cut off funds to Israel altogether! The time has come for Israel to stand on its own feet and not be pressured to commit national suicide by a maniacal Muslim US President!
The President of this country, the USA is responsible for running this country not ruining this country.
Get rid of this Obama in 2012. Anyone would be better than him and his ilk.
i can tell you he lost my vote because of this. coming up with “Jewish Awareness Month” this week won’t cover up his failed policy towards Israel and the middle east. Problem is, who is running for Republican? I liked Huckabee but he is out, and Palin is a bit nuts, but like with Bush it depends on the cabinet running things behind the camera.
ERETZ YISRAEL is important for all Jews. The lack of respect for the Jewish people of Israel is being also transferred to America. By what obama is doing in
Israel is causing anti-semitism to rise in America. he is look for the moslem vote
and moslem stick with their arab brothers even though they are divided into 26 countries. It is time for Jews to abandon the democrats since they have abandoned
the Jews
Here you have the perfect dichotomy when it comes to the Jewish people. If Jews tell Obama that they will not support him financially or at the ballot box if he does not support Jewish causes, the mass media accuses “the wealthy Jewish lobby” of “controlling Washington”. If some other group threatens exactly the same thing, no one says a word. It just shows how there is always hatred for Jews bubbling underneath the surface.
It looks like blackmailing the President.
Warn, shmarn! Obama will toss a few bones to the Jew-dogs here & in Israel, the Jews will say he’s a tzaddik and he really cares, & if G-d forbid he does get in again in 2012, it will be even worse for Israel & for American Jews. He’ll get control of the Court & he’ll be even more Marxist, whilst preserving his mega-millions. Israel will def be at risk of annihilation. He is NOT A FRIEND, despite the rhetoric. He truly is a Manchurian Candidate. This community organizer so controlled by Soros and others it’s frightening
American Jews are stupid to think they can trust him: look at the hope & change he promised in 2008. How’s that working out for you?
Obama will throw them a few kind words or perhaps even free Pollard at the right political moment if he deems it necessary for his own benefit, but watch out when he is re-elected for final term, G-d forbid. Obama has been a disaster for America, let alone Israel. Keep your funding or give it elsewhere, for everyone’s sake.
I’m no supporter of Obama, but people either have very short memories or some other, darker, reason why they seem to hate this president. Bush severely castigated Israel in 2002 when the IDF went into the PA areas to root out the suicide bombers. I still remember the press conference where he and Colin Powell warned the Israelis to withdraw immediately.
And I remember Bush being the first U.S. president to call for Palestinian state (even Carter, while he was president, only pushed for some degree of Palestinian sovereignty).
And I remember Bush sending representatives every few months to try to pressure Israel. And when Condoleezza Rice compared the Palestinians to the blacks down south in the pre-civil rights era.
And how about the way the Bush administration pressured both Israel and the PA to permit Hamas to take part in the West Bank elections? We know how that turned out. Don’t get me wrong — at heart Bush was pro-Israel, but like with every president, there were many bumpy patches along the way in dealing with Israel.
sorry folks his number is up jewish big money has gotten his number and are telling him off obama is nothing more then jimmy carter in black and has relieved advise from him sorry the only jews that like him are those receiving tremendous financial aid from his government as long as they can rip off they will
Hey you guys stop warning and start doing!!! After yesterdays speech, cancel your conference with him and show him you mean business. Let him know he has lost your support. Stop being so wishy washy. All he cares about is your money. He certainly proved he doesn’t care about the Jews only his Muslim brothers.