Speaking at a fundraiser for 100 Jewish donors in New York Thursday evening, President Obama has again told supporters he is committed to strong U.S. military cooperation with Israel.
“Since I’ve been in office, we have unequivocally said that Israel’s security is non-negotiable, and that we will do everything that’s necessary to make sure that Israel is able to thrive and prosper as a secure Jewish state, Part of that has been to make sure that we’ve got the strongest military cooperation that we’ve ever had between our two nations. That’s not my opinion, by the way, that’s the Israeli government’s opinion.”
According to a report by The Jewish Daily Forward, 100 Jewish supporters attended the event, which raised upwards of half a million dollars.
Regarding Iran, Obama said his administration is supporting “an unprecedented campaign of sanctions and pressure.”
“We’re not going to tolerate a nuclear weapon in the hands of this Iranian regime, And we’ve been able to organize folks like China and Russia that previously would have never gone along with something like this. And it’s been so effective that even the Iranians have had to acknowledge that their economy is in a shambles. When I came into office, Iran was united and the world was divided. And now what we have is a united international community that is saying to Iran, you’ve got to change your ways.”
In an off-the-record question and answer session, Obama “made very clear that he’s serious about prohibiting Iran from acquiring a nuclear weapon,” Alan Solow (former chair of the Conference of Presidents of Major American Jewish Organizations and one of the event’s hosts) said. Though the president maintained that the hopes for achieving those ends are through sanctions, he said that the Iranians are aware that all options are on the table