After meeting with Obama, what's next?

I had the opportunity to meet with President Barack Obama at the White House on July 13, along with fifteen other representatives of Jewish organizations. Afterwards, everyone wanted to know whether I now felt reassured about the state of US-Israel relations.
  
I start off with the premise that pro-Israeli attitudes in this country are so deeply embedded and multi-layered that no particular policy approach can easily change that. On top of that, the President said a number of things that reminded me of the bi-partisan character of support for Israel which has been the hallmark of the relationship.

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Financial crisis brings out the anti-semites

It never fails. Whenever there is a financial crisis or trading scandal in the stock markets, the anti-Semites come out of the woodwork.  The classic stereotype of the Jewish Shylock out to have his Christian pound of flesh dies very hard, if at all.  The Jew as economic opportunist sucking the financial life-blood out of a nation or of the whole world is continually reborn.

So the crude anti-Semitic postings at extremist or financial websites and comment boards, and at Internet blogs available for viewing over the past couple of weeks, should not come as a total surprise. Still, I have to admit being dismayed to see these lasting age-old canards about Jews and money finding fresh outlet. 

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The American people are on our side

The American-Israeli agenda these days is a very full one. The approaching Annapolis conference, the Iran nuclear issue, questions about US-Syrian relations, technological cooperation on speeding up anti-missile technology, and efforts to involve moderate Arabs in a more constructive way are among the many issues facing the two countries.

In light of this heavy agenda, as well as concerns over the impact of the books by John Mearsheimer and Stephen Walt and by Jimmy Carter attacking the American Jewish community, we at ADL thought it important to gauge American public opinion vis-à-vis Israel and Middle East issues. We've done so in a survey of 2,000 Americans conducted by our longtime pollster, The Marttila Communications Group.

The news overall, with some hiccups, is good and solid support for Israel, whether on questions of sympathy or on American interests. And, at least for now, the vast majority of Americans reject the notions about Jews and American Middle East policy purveyed by Mearsheimer and Walt.