Obama said he was surprised at the reaction to his May 19 Mideast speech. Obama reassures Jewish donors

Jewish donors who attended the first of two fundraisers for President Obama Monday night walked away reassured about his stance on Israel after he answered roughly a dozen of their questions in a private setting.

A handful of the roughly 80 supporters, who paid between $25,000 and the maximum $35,800, told POLITICO that Obama answered tough questions on Israel “candidly” and expanded on them liberally once a press pool reporter left the room at the luxurious Mandarin Oriental Hotel. The president even took follow-up questions.


At one point, Obama said he was surprised at the reaction to his May 19 Mideast speech, according to Jack Bendheim, a businessman based in New York who works in the animal health sector.

“I think he nailed and renailed his commitment to the security of the state of Israel,” said Bendheim, adding that most people “felt better” about Obama’s Israel policy afterward.

Obama’s speech — in which he said Israel’s borders before the 1967 Six-Day War should be the starting point for negotiations with the Palestinians — sparked an angry reaction from Israel’s government and from many of the country’s supporters in the United States, even though the position has been longstanding U.S. policy.

Marilyn Victor, a supporter at the fundraiser, characterized the attitude of Jewish donors thusly: “We support you, but we’re a little insecure, so make us secure.”

“We were very reassured,” said Randi Levine, who attended with her husband, Jeffrey, a real estate developer in New York City.

Obama hinted at no policy changes but simply restated and clarified the message he was seeking to deliver with his Mideast address.

Asked whether Obama needed to clarify the position he laid out last month, Jeffrey Levine said: “Well, yes. When you hear snippets and you hear ”67 lines,’ it’s distressing.”

Obama didn’t mention a single Republican during the private event, attendees said, but he did suggest that members of Congress have an easier time lining up behind all of the Israeli government’s positions because they don’t have to make any final decision.

Stewart Greenebaum, a real estate developer in Washington and Baltimore, paraphrased one of Obama’s lines as, “You can’t ask me to agree with everything the government of Israel is doing, because not everyone in Israel agrees with what the government is doing.”

All of the questions Obama took were on issues related to Israel, like Iran, the American embassy’s location and the perception that his administration is pressuring the Israelis more than it is pushing the Palestinians.

The supporters at the event described the atmosphere as receptive and engaging, with the crowd applauding Obama throughout. But asked how often Obama was cheered, one person who didn’t want to be identified joked, “Not as many times as Congress applauded Netanyahu.”