No smearing a true friend

WASHINGTON JEWISH WEEK

by Debbie Wasserman Schultz

Our ally and friend Israel lives in a tough neighborhood, a small state in a region of few friends and fewer fellow democracies. Today this difficult region among the nations of the world is rife with ever greater challenges, as Israel’s enemies seek her isolation by both threatening and denying the existence of the Jewish state.

In regions like Israel’s, where friends are hard to come by, those who stand with you are all the more valuable. President Obama is making sure America isn’t just one of those friends – he’s making sure we are Israel’s truest friend and staunchest ally.

Part of that pact means standing up for Israel when no one else will, which is precisely what the president has done time and again before the international community. And when it comes to Iran’s nuclear-weapons capability, the president is unshakable in his message: if you threaten Israel, you will find yourself isolated from the rest of the world.

Thanks to President Obama’s strongest-ever sanctions on Iran – an international effort that has crippled Iran’s economy and weakened its tyrannical leaders – that is already happening. This pressure has come in the form of robust multilateral sanctions, which the president convinced China and Russia to support, and comprehensive, unilateral American sanctions that he has signed and implemented during the past three years.

The ultimate goal of this pressure is to stop any sinister elements of the Iranian nuclear program and compel Tehran to comply with their obligations under international law.

President Obama is not naive about the Iranian regime’s threat to Israeli or American security. He understands the grave threat a nuclear-armed Iran would pose to Israel. That’s why the President has repeatedly made clear that no options – including military force – are off the table in dealing with this threat. And that’s why he has consistently demonstrated America’s unbreakable commitment to our closest ally.

Even as he directs an economic recovery that has required difficult spending decisions, President Obama sent Israel the largest security assistance packages in U.S. history. In every year of his presidency, he has increased our assistance to Israel over the previous year. President Obama’s commitment to Israel continues in his recently released 2013 Budget, raising his request to $3.1 billion, an increase of $25 million from last year’s aid to Israel, and the largest foreign security assistance package in U.S. history.

Last year, President Obama supplemented our security assistance to Israel with $205 million in emergency funds for the deployment of the Iron Dome rocket-defense system which is currently protecting Israeli communities on the Gaza and Lebanese borders.

During the past three years, President Obama has also escalated the visits of senior officials to Israel and facilitated the largest-ever joint military exercise between our nations. Under the Obama administration, Israeli forces have been granted access to the most advanced U.S. military hardware, such as the F-35 Joint Strike Fighter. It’s no surprise that Israel’s Defense Minister Ehud Barak has praised the Obama administration, saying he “can hardly remember a better period of support.”

President Obama knows our friendship cannot be measured in dollars alone. He has stood shoulder to shoulder with Israel in international forums, and executed a tenacious diplomatic strategy to counter efforts to delegitimize Israel. Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu has recognized the president’s ongoing defense of Israel as “a badge of honor.”

When Palestinians launched their unilateral bid for statehood at the United Nations, President Obama pledged to veto it. He then stood before the entire global community last year and stated clearly that genuine peace can come about only as a result of direct, bilateral negotiations between Israel and the Palestinians.

He also used his first Security Council veto to block efforts to condemn Israel, he stood up against efforts to single out Israel in the aftermath of the Gaza flotilla incident, and he opposed the dangerous, now discredited Goldstone report.

These are the facts. Many on the other side, including the Republican candidates who will speak at next week’s AIPAC conference, don’t want this truth out there.

They simply want to manipulate the president’s record for political gain. I believe they have chosen this path because their own records on domestic and social issues are so far out of touch with Americans’ vision of fairness and equality and the values that the Jewish community holds dear. Republicans know that they can’t appeal to the Jewish community on domestic issues, so they mischaracterize President Obama’s stellar record on Israel to sow seeds of doubt.

I hear the rumors, too. I receive the dubious email forwards from friends and family. But no smear campaign can change the fact that the President has not wavered in his support for the Jewish state and effort to curb the Iranian nuclear program.

As a member of Congress, the chair of the Democratic Party, and an American Jew who brings my love of Israel to work with me every day, I am proud that our president has protected and strengthened our unbreakable friendship with Israel. Through word and deed, President Obama has demonstrated our ironclad commitment to Israel’s safety and security, and the eternal call of “Am Israel Chai!”

Debbie Wasserman Schultz is a member of the U.S. House of Representatives and chair of the Democratic National Committee.