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Obama pledges support for Israel

Jun 04 2008

Obama pledges support for Israel

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By Agencies

Clinton, who has not conceded, said Obama was a 'good friend' to Israel [AFP]

Barack Obama, the US Democratic presumptive presidential nominee, has pledged to safeguard Israel's security if elected president in November.

Obama also described the US bond with the Jewish state as "unbreakable today, unbreakable tomorrow, unbreakable for ever" and said he spoke as a "true friend" of Israel.

Hours after securing his party's nomination, Obama told the influential annual policy conference of the American Israel Public Affairs Council (Aipac) on Wednesday that rumours and suggestions he is unfriendly to Israel and to Jewish interests are unfounded.

Obama, the first African-American to win the presidential nomination for a major US political party, said that Jerusalem must remain the "undivided" capital of Israel in a speech to the powerful US-Israel lobby group.

"Jerusalem will remain the capital of Israel and it must remain undivided," the Illinois senator said.

Obama drew a standing ovation ahead of addressing the gathering of one of US politics' most influential lobbying groups, and also addressed perceived suspicion of him in some sectors of the Jewish community.

"As president I will never compromise when it comes to Israel's security," Obama said.

Obama, who also said he would approve $30 billion in aid to Israel over the next 10 years, said he was not opposed to holding talks with "appropriate" Iranian leaders using "tough and principled diplomacy".

However Hamas reacted angrily to Obama's speech, with Sami Abu Zuhri, a spokesman for the organisation, telling AFP on Wednesday that it was "evidence of the hostility of the American administration to Arabs and Muslims".

Action against Iran

"The danger from Iran is grave, it is real, and my goal will be to eliminate this threat"

Barack Obama, presumptive Democratic presidential candidate

Obama also vowed to do "everything in my power" to prevent Iran from obtaining a nuclear weapon.

In his first major foreign policy speech since announcing he had clinched the nomination, the Illinois senator did not explicitly rule out military action.

"The danger from Iran is grave, it is real, and my goal will be to eliminate this threat," he said.

The Illinois senator's comments come a day after US media projected that Obama had enough delegates to win the Democratic nomination and face John McCain, the presumptive Republican candidate, in the November election.

His Democratic opponent, Hillary Clinton, who also spoke at the conference later on Wednesday, has so far refused to concede the race.

Speaking shortly after Obama, Clinton said the US's "next president must be a Democrat and that Obama "will be a good friend to Israel".

Al Jazeera's Rob Reynolds said the subtle language indicated Clinton was no longer running for the presidency but she still would not say she had suspended her campaign.

Republicans have criticised Obama for his offers to talk to Iran, however Obama countered in his speech that it was the failed policies of George Bush, the US president, in Iraq that had made Israel less safe.

He also accused McCain of wanting to prolong such policies.

"There are those who would continue and intensify this failed status quo, ignoring eight years of accumulated evidence that our foreign policy is dangerously flawed," Obama said.

Peace proposals

Obama, who said he would push for a Middle East peace deal "from the start of my administration", also said he favoured a two-state solution to the Israeli-Palestinian conflict but that Hamas should be isolated.

"We must isolate Hamas unless and until they renounce terrorism, recognise Israel's right to exist, and abide by past agreements," he said.

"There is no room at the negotiating table for terrorist organisations."

He also said any putative deal should preserve Israel's identity as a Jewish state and that Jerusalem should remain the undivided capital of Israel.

But the Illinois senator said Israel bore responsibility for easing the freedom of movement for Palestinians, improving economic conditions in the West Bank and halting the building of new settlements.