Obama's Rosh Hashanah statement reaffirms commitment to Israel
President Obama is reaffirming his administration's commitment to Israel in a video message to mark the Jewish High Holy Days.
Mr. Obama released the video on Tuesday, the day before Rosh Hashanah, the Jewish New Year.
"While we cannot know all that the New Year will bring, we do know this: the United States will continue to stand with Israel, because the bond between our two nations is unshakable," the president says in the video.
Mr. Obama says that the past year brought both hope and hardship across the globe, and that the U.S. is striving for prosperity at home and peace and security internationally. "As Jewish tradition teaches us, we may not complete the work, but that must never keep us from trying," he says.
The message comes amid evidence that Jewish Americans are not satisfied with the administration's relationship with Israel. The American Jewish Committee's annual survey of American Jewish adults, conducted this month, found that support for the president has dropped in the past year, in part because most disapprove of the way Mr. Obama is handling relations with Israel.
Mr. Obama is currently embroiled in the Middle East peace process at the United Nations, and has demonstrated his commitment to Israel by opposing Palestine's current U.N. bid for statehood.
Former New York City Mayor Ed Koch endorsed Mr. Obama's re-election bid today, saying the president's remarks at the U.N. on the Israeli-Palestinian conflict reassured him about the president's policies. Koch, a Democrat, recently endorsed the Republican in a special election for the New York congressional seat formerly held by Democrat Anthony Weiner because he said he opposed the president's policies on Israel. The Republican in the race for Weiner's old seat, Bob Turner, won in an upset victory for the GOP.
