GOP Going After The Jewish Vote

The NYT has an article on the GOP courting the Jewish vote at the Republican Jewish Coalition in Washington. Sam Brownback, Rudy Giuliani, John McCain, Mitt Romney and Fred Thompson were all present to put forth their views on Iraq,the Palestinians, Russia and more. Not surprisingly Rudy Giuliani was the crowd favorite with the famous story he recalls of throwing Arafat out of a 1995 Lincoln Center concert.

Obama and the Jews

Democratic Presidential hopeful Sen. Obama has Jewish voters concerned about his connection with Muslims. He attempted to assure Jewish voters that his support of Israel is unwavering. Obama has seemingly switched his position on Israel and does not seem to want to discuss that flip flop, as the article suggests:

Obama said while he is committed to protecting Israel's security, he would also reach out to Arab leaders who are committed to recognizing Israel and renouncing violence. He did not repeat the position he took last month while campaigning in Iowa - that he supports relaxing restrictions on aid to the Palestinian people because "nobody is suffering more than the Palestinian people."

When a reporter who followed Obama out of the building asked him about his previous statement, Obama did not answer but closed the door of the car he was getting into to head back to Congress.