Looking back on the year in review, U.S. President Barack Obama told 600 rabbis from across the religious spectrum last week that America's backing of Israel's security was the primary reason that direct talks got off the ground with the Palestinian Authority.
Obama made the claim in a pre-Rosh HaShanah conference call last Tuesday, telling the American rabbis that his administration had been responsible for the renewed negotiations between the two sides, having convinced Israel that the U.S. was serious about keeping Israel safe.
He also focused on the U.S. government's upgrade in missile defense cooperation and enhanced intelligence-sharing with the Jewish State. Obama added that officials in both nations were convinced that Iran had largely been isolated by the U.S.-led effort in the United Nations to impose stronger sanctions against the country.
Obama claimed Iran had been “shocked” at the effectiveness of economic sanctions imposed as a means of pressuring Tehran to abandon its nuclear development program. He said that sanctions imposed by the United Nations Security Council had been effective. Additional sanctions imposed by the United States, Europe and Japan further increased the Islamic Republic's discomfort, Obama said.
The call was more about the past year's activities, rather than a focus on policy decisions to come – a direction reflected by Vice President Joe Biden in a similar event the same day.
Biden hosted Israeli Ambassador Michael Oren and Jewish leaders from around the U.S. at a pre-holiday reception at his official residence. Among the attendees was American Friends of Lubavitch Director Rabbi Levi Shemtov, whose father Avraham -- the organization's founding national director -- was long-time Washington D.C. insider, and was present at nearly every Jewish celebration of note at the White House during the administration of former President Ronald Reagan. It was Levi Shemtov, however, who established the organization's Washington D.C. office.
Shemtov noted that although political substance may not have been on the agenda, the gathering was nevertheless key: “It is important at times to get together in situations where policy is temporarily secondary, and the main focus is on good relations and communications,” he said. The Chabad-Lubavitch emissary to Washington D.C. is considered to be the most visible Jewish presence at non-Jewish events in the nation's capital.