Barack Obama Image by getty images

President Obama would visit Israel in a second term, a top campaign surrogate said.

Barack Obama Image by getty images

“We can expect him to visit Israel in a second term, should he be reelected,” Colin Kahl, a former deputy assistant secretary of defense for the Middle East, who is now a campaign spokesman on the region, said Monday in a conference call with reporters.

Forwarding the News

Thoughtful, balanced reporting from the Forward and around the web, bringing you updated news and analysis each day.

Terms(Required)

I agree to the Forward's Terms of Service and Privacy Policy

Email(Required)

The call was timed ahead of a trip later this month to London, Poland and Israel by Mitt Romney, the presumptive Republican presidential candidate.

The Obama campaign officials on the call said Romney needed to outline substantive foreign policy differences with Obama on the trip, describing Romney’s statements until now as little more than criticism of Obama.

Reporters pressed the Obama officials on perceived differences with Israel, noting for instance that Obama failed to visit Israel in his first term, although he visited Saudi Arabia and Egypt.

Kahl and others noted Obama’s visit to Israel as a candidate in 2008 and that a number of other presidents did not visit Israel in their first terms.

“Being a friend of Israel shouldn’t be judged by a travel itinerary,” Kahl said. “I don’t think this is a serious policy difference; it’s basically a distraction.”

The Forward is free to read, but it isn’t free to produce

I hope you appreciated this article. Before you go, I’d like to ask you to please support the Forward.

Now more than ever, American Jews need independent news they can trust, with reporting driven by truth, not ideology. We serve you, not any ideological agenda.

At a time when other newsrooms are closing or cutting back, the Forward has removed its paywall and invested additional resources to report on the ground from Israel and around the U.S. on the impact of the war, rising antisemitism and polarized discourse.

Readers like you make it all possible. Support our work by becoming a Forward Member and connect with our journalism and your community.

This is a great time to support independent Jewish journalism you rely on. Make a gift today!

—  Rachel Fishman Feddersen, Publisher and CEO

Support our mission to tell the Jewish story fully and fairly.

$90 $180

$360

Other amount