White House Pushes for Jewish Support on Syria
Image by getty images
The U.S. administration has launched an outreach campaign to convince American Jewish leaders and their organizations to support President Obama’s efforts to win Congressional support for a military operation in Syria – but the leaders are wary of joining the fray.
Despite the Labor Day weekend, senior White House and administration officials have initiated phone calls with several Jewish figures to reiterate the messages issued by Obama and Secretary of State John Kerry in recent days concerning the centrality of Israel to the administration’s concerns in Syria – and to ask for their public and political support.
Obama and Kerry have emphasized that the proposed operation is crucial to prevent the danger of chemical weapons attacks on Israel and to deter Hezbollah and Iran. “I don’t think they will want to vote, ultimately, to put Israel at risk,” Kerry has said of the American lawmakers.
Kerry has also played to Jewish sensitivities by repeatedly comparing the current situation in Syria to World War II Europe, President Bashar Assad to Adolf Hitler and government inaction towards atrocities then – and, implicitly, passivity of the Jewish community – to the opposition to an operation in Syria now.
For more, go to Haaretz
I hope you appreciated this article. Before you go, I’d like to ask you to please support the Forward’s award-winning journalism this Passover.
In this age of misinformation, our work is needed like never before. We report on the news that matters most to American Jews, driven by truth, not ideology.
At a time when newsrooms are closing or cutting back, the Forward has removed its paywall. That means for the first time in our 126-year history, Forward journalism is free to everyone, everywhere. With an ongoing war, rising antisemitism, and a flood of disinformation that may affect the upcoming election, we believe that free and open access to Jewish journalism is imperative.
Readers like you make it all possible. Right now, we’re in the middle of our Passover Pledge Drive and we need 500 people to step up and make a gift to sustain our trustworthy, independent journalism.
Make a gift of any size and become a Forward member today. You’ll support our mission to tell the American Jewish story fully and fairly.
— Rachel Fishman Feddersen, Publisher and CEO
Join our mission to tell the Jewish story fully and fairly.
Our Goal: 500 gifts during our Passover Pledge Drive!
