Obama: Friends Of Israel Better Read The Fine Print

Written by David Frum on Monday May 18, 2009

My friend Noah Pollak expresses relief in the Commentary blog that President Obama has

endorse[d] the idea that the Iranian program poses an existential threat to Israel ....

Not so fast. That's not what the president said. He said:

I understand very clearly that Israel considers Iran an existential threat, and given some of the statements that have been made by President Ahmadinejad, you can understand why.

There is a big difference between saying: "I understand why you feel that way" and endorsing the correctness of those feelings. Obama went to some effort to avoid such an endorsement, and friends of Israel should take notice.

Category: News