On January 20, 2009, Obama advisor David Axelrod appeared at the Jewish Community Inaugural Reception the

The president is reported to have stated that the Israelis would be 'crazy' not to accept the Saudi plan.

night before the major gala festival welcoming the new president. He told the crowd of 800 that he was there to do "a little kvelling."

Are you kvelling?

At the National Jewish Inaugural Ball at congregation Ohev Shalom in Washington D.C., Obama Jewish outreach and Middle East staffer Dan Shapiro offered the toast, stating that this is a time "full of possibility for our country, for our community, full of possibility for a safe Israel."

Is Israel "safer" as a result of the election?

The current administration is pressuring Israel to make very dangerous land concessions that would drastically decrease Israel's size and ability to maintain its security. The objective is a PLO State next door to Israel with Jerusalem as its capital. Presently, Israel is surrounded by tens of thousands of missiles from Hizbullah and Hamas, which have been supplied largely from Iran - a rogue nation that may very soon become a nuclear power. There are no causes for euphoria here.

In his first meeting with Palestinian Authority leader Mahmoud Abbas, the president is reported to have stated that the Israelis would be 'crazy' not to accept the Saudi plan, which calls for a complete withdrawal to the pre-1967 borders of Israel. Do you agree with that assessment?

Seventy-eight percent of American Jews went to the polls and voted for a president who later addressed the Arab world in Cairo on June 4, and there gave impetus to many outrageous claims leveled against the Jewish State. For example, Barack Obama claimed Palestinians have been trying to establish a state for 60 years, when in fact it was officially offered in 1937, 1948 and 2000. Obama claimed to long for the day when Jerusalem would be secure for Jews and Muslims and Christians, when that has actually been the case since 1967, when Jerusalem was unified following the Six-Day War. The president also implied that the suffering of the Palestinians was similar to that of the victims of the Holocaust by offering some comments on the Holocaust and then immediately continuing, "On the other hand" referencing the "sufferings of the Palestinians."

Do you agree with those viewpoints?

Back during the presidential campaign, in congregation Bnai Israel of Boca Raton, during a speech by candidate Obama, a question was posed by Michael Ackerman about his association with Palestinian activist Rashid Khalidy. Obama responded, "To pluck one person who I know... and then suggest that somehow shows that I am not sufficiently pro-Israel, I think that is a very problematic stance to take."

Well, how about plucking out the names of Obama associates and staunch opponents of Israel such as Chas Freedman Jr., Jeremiah Wright, David Bonior, Van Jones, Samantha Powers, General Tony McPeak, Robert Malley, Bill Ayers, and Zbigniew Brzezinski - among others?

The rhetoric of Israel's critics is all too familiar: Israel is responsible for the continuation of the conflict. It's those settlements that are at fault.

In the meantime, the realities. The newly appointed defense minister of Iran, Ahmad Vahidi, is a wanted suspect in the 1994 Buenos Aires Jewish community center bombing that killed ninety-five people. As he recently spoke in the Iranian Parliament, members rose to their feet and chanted, "Death to Israel".

The Palestinian Authority inculcates its people with hatred of Israel. Its leaders publicly reject Israel. The PA media and school textbooks still speak of the future struggle against Israel - sixteen years after Oslo and four years following Israel's withdrawal from Gaza. And how many in the Arab world condemn such calls for future

80% of all Israelis of American citizenship voted for the Republican candidate.

jihad?

The critics accuse Israel of a massive land grab, but the conflict is not about the dimensions of Israel's borders. It is about its very existence.

Last year 78% of American Jews went to the polls and voted for an administration whose positions on Israel represent a radical shift in policy. In that election, 80% of all Israelis of American citizenship voted for the Republican candidate via overseas ballots. Earlier in 2009, Israelis went to the polls and overwhelmingly voted in their elections for parties whose views on national security vastly differ from those of the far-left. Israelis too love peace, they unfortunately have known far too much war, but they must face the realities of survival in the Middle East.

It is time for American Jews to bridge, rather than widen, that gap between the American Jewish community and their Israeli brethren; to stand up and declare their support for the right of the people of Israel to decide their future, and to tell the president that they oppose the mounting pressure.