Barack Obama meets Jewish leaders over 'tough line' on Israel

By Alex Spillius in Washington
President Barack Obama has called a meeting with leaders of American Jewish groups who are concerned at his new tough line on Israel and perceived softness on Iran.

Iran's nuclear threat and the president's demand for a freeze on Israeli settlement expansion in the Palestinian West Bank were expected to dominate the meeting at White House.
Officials had originally tried to keep the meeting secret after it was arranged late last week, but hastily added it to the official schedule after the news leaked out.

Though it is not unusual for a US president to meet Jewish groups, the timing of the event reflected rising anxiety among a constituency that overwhelmingly supported Mr Obama in last year's election that he would not be the most dependable of allies.
"American Jews more or less agree with the president on settlements, but it's the focus on criticising Israel that's disconcerting," said an organisation leader ahead of the meeting.
Mr Obama, though reiterating America's commitment to Israel, has been tougher than any of his predecessors on the settlement issue, while he has favoured a gentler tone towards Iran, whose president has threatened to annihilate the Jewish state.
A June 4 speech in Cairo the president made to the Muslim world particularly alarmed some Jewish groups.
Malcolm Hoenlein, vice chairman of the Conference of Presidents of Major American Jewish Organizations which asked for the meeting, said in a recent interview: "There's a lot of questioning going on about what he really believes and what does he really stand for."
He told Newmax.com: "Even people close to him have said to us that there were parts of the speech that bothered them."
He said the most troubling aspect of the speech was the president's equating of the Holocaust, which killed six million Jews, with the suffering and "dislocation" suffered by the Palestinians since the creation of Israel.
"There's no comparison between the Holocaust, even if it was an indirect one, and what happened to Palestinians," Mr Hoenlein declared.
The guest list, drawn up by the White House, included three liberal Jewish groups invited to the White House for the first time.