SDEROT, Israel: US presidential hopeful Barack Obama, bidding to prove his statesmanship, waded into the thicket of Mideast politics yesterday, sitting down with Palestinian and Israeli leaders whose disputes have defied peacemaking by American presidents for decades.
At a press conference in this Israeli city near the Gaza border, he reiterated his hawkish stance toward Iran by saying he would take no options off the table.
Echoing President George W. Bush’s stance on Iran, Obama warned that a nuclear Iran would be a game-changing situation, not just in the Middle East but also in the rest of the world. “A nuclear Iran would pose a grave threat and the world must prevent Iran from obtaining a nuclear weapon,” he said.
Obama, who sounded less than self-assured on the complexities of the peace process between Israel and the Palestinians, was forthright about Iran in comments that will reassure the Israeli leadership. Last month, Israel carried out a major military exercise in a less-than-subtle hint to Iran that it was prepared to bomb Tehran’s nuclear facilities, no matter the diplomatic repercussions.
“I will take no options off the table in dealing with the Iranian threat,” Obama told the audience in Sderot. “What remains of non-proliferation would disintegrate. Many of these countries have ties to terrorists. That is our single most important threat.”
Realizing many Israelis are wary of an Obama presidency, the first-term Illinois senator wore a Jewish skullcap and laid a white wreath at the Yad Vashem Holocaust memorial museum on a Jerusalem hillside. “Let our children come here and know this history so that they can add their voices to proclaim ‘never again,’” Obama wrote in the visitors’ book.
Obama said in a CBS television interview that he was visiting Israel, in part, to overcome Republican opponent John McCain’s stronger support among Israeli Jews.
“That’s part of the reason why we’re going to spend a day visiting there in discussions and hopefully give people confidence that I have a track record that will assure not only the people of Israel, but friends of Israel back home, that, in fact, Israel’s security is paramount,” he said.
Obama had breakfast with Israeli Defense Minister Ehud Barak and met President Shimon Peres.
“I’m here on this trip to reaffirm the special relationship between Israel and the United States, and my abiding commitment to Israel’s security,” Obama said during the Peres meeting.
Obama’s day was packed with meetings and travel across Israel and the Palestinian territories during which he held talks with Israeli Prime Minister Ehud Olmert in Jerusalem and Palestinian President Mahmoud Abbas in Ramallah.
After Obama met with Abbas for about an hour, Palestinian aide Saeb Erekat told reporters Obama was willing to engage immediately in the protracted conflict.
“Obama confirmed to President Abbas that he will be a constructive partner in the peace process,” Erekat said, adding that Obama told Abbas he would “not waste a minute” if elected.
