Obama will visit Israel in second term if re-elected

Barack Obama in Sderot, Israel on July 23, 2008

Barack Obama in Sderot, Israel on July 23, 2008

By Lauren Appelbaum, Political Director

Washington, July 23 – President Obama’s campaign says he will travel to Israel during his second term, if re-elected.

“We can expect him to visit Israel in a second term should he be elected,” Colin Kahl, the former deputy assistant secretary of defense for the Middle East, said on a conference call with reporters Monday.

Obama’s last visit to Israel was during the summer of 2008 when he was the Democratic candidate for president.

Kahl said George W. Bush did not visit Israel until the final year of his second term and Ronald Reagan never visited Israel during his presidency.

“Obviously you didn’t hear Republicans complaining then as a result of that travel itinerary,” Kahl said. “I don’t think this is a really serious policy difference. It’s basically a distraction.”

Kahl did not offer an explanation for why Obama has not visited Israel as president. Yet he said Romney’s criticism of Obama for not visiting isn’t valid and that the U.S.-Israel relationship is “in good shape.”

Mitt Romney speaking during the Republican Jewish Coalition Forum on December 7, 2011

Mitt Romney speaking during the Republican Jewish Coalition Forum on December 7, 2011

House Majority Leader Eric Cantor criticized Obama, saying his promise to visit Israel in his second term “comes four years too late” and is “emblematic of the lack of close coordination with Israel Candidate Obama led us to expect in 2008.”

“Our relationship with Israel should be a priority, not a distraction,” Cantor said in a statement released by the Romney campaign. “President Obama has found time to visit dozens of other nations – including some near to Israel in the Middle East – and his treatment of our closest ally in the region has been profoundly disappointing.”

In another release by the Romney campaign, Florida Congresswoman Ileana Ros-Lehtinen said the timing of Obama’s announcement to visit Israel during his second term is “politically inspired.”

“One should not play political games with U.S. foreign policy, particularly at a moment when the Middle East is a tinderbox,” Ros-Lehtinen said in the statement.

Mitt Romney will be visiting Israel during a trip set to begin later this week. The presumptive Republican nominee will be meeting with Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu, President Shimon Peres and Palestinian Authority Prime Minister Salam Fayyad. Romney also has said that if he is elected president, his inaugural foreign visit would be to Israel.

“If I’m president of the United States, my first trip — my first foreign trip will be to Israel to show the world we care about that country and that region,” Romney said during a GOP debate last November in Washington, D.C.

The Romney campaign has called this trip one for the former governor to listen and learn, not to announce foreign policy specifics.

About TIP on the Trail
TIP on the Trail is a nonpartisan political commentary on the 2012 U.S. elections, with a view toward the Middle East. TIP on the Trail is not affiliated with any government, is nonpartisan and neither rates nor endorses candidates. Chief political writers for TIP on the Trail include Alan Elsner, former chief political correspondent for Reuters, and Lauren Appelbaum, former political researcher for NBC News.

5 Responses to Obama will visit Israel in second term if re-elected

  1. JoeAstroturf says:

    If Obama gets reelected don’t let him bring Eric Holder over to Israel (not Isreal Dem dummies) with him when he visits. You’ll have more terrorists with illegal guns when these 2 Anti Semite clowns come over. He’s only gotten border agents and 300 poor Mexicans killed so far.

    Check out Song “Arizona we’re proud of you” . to see who he did get killed

    Song “Arizona we’re proud of you” .
    http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Q81JiD9uZNE

    Verses.

    Arizona like us when they report on Israel the fringe will hide the facts.
    They’ll photoshop and leave out the other sides violent acts .
    We have no problem if people want to celebrate the 5th of May,
    But we’ll wear the red white and blue any fricking day.

  2. Howard says:

    Let’s pray that Obama doesn’t get any more time to fail in his support of Israel. I can’t believe that anyone who cares about the future of the Promised Land or peace in the Middle East would vote for this socialist.

  3. American Israeli says:

    This is a irrational argument that is more evidence that Obama is running scared and getting desperate. It is irrelevant that Reagan didn’t come to Israel, and that Bush came only during his second administration. Neither Republican prez showed a disdain and hatred for Israel that the current administration shows. Obama, if he seriously cared, needs to come to Israel to mend the broken relationship he caused, not to get Jewish votes. He’s probably lying anyway; I don’t take campaign promises from this liar-in-chief seriously. He’s a joke.

  4. Pingback: Romney on Middle East: Neutral is not an option « TIP on the Trail

  5. Devorah says:

    Obama hasn’t cared about Israel and now he wants to visit??!!
    Once elected he WILL DROP Israel like a hot potato he has
    not once supported Israel in his term but only treated them
    with total disrespect!!! Obama supports the muslim brotherhood
    even to inviting them to the White House and entertaining them.
    Sick!!!!!!!!!!!

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