A week after the field of Republican presidential hopefuls ripped his approach to Israel, President Barack Obama fired back with an address before thousands of Reform Jews -- declaring no administration has done more for Israel's security than his.

"Don't let anyone tell you otherwise," he said to the 71st General Assembly of the Union for Reform Judaism. "It is a fact."

Republicans last week accused Obama of being soft on Iran and jeopardizing Israel's security.The tough talk comes as Republicans believe they have an opening to peel off traditionally Democratic-leaning Jewish voters from Obama, whom they say some Jewish voters view warily because of his tough early stance against Israel's building of settlements in the predominantly Palestinian West Bank.

But Obama insisted he's "never wavered" in the "pursuit of a just and lasting peace -- two states for two peoples; an independent Palestine alongside a secure Jewish State of Israel. 

"We stand with Israel," he said. "America's commitment and my commitment to Israel and Israel's security is unshakeable."

Six of the Republican presidential hopefuls Wednesday are to address the Republican Jewish Coalition's presidential candidate forum -- spending most of their remarks bashing President Barack Obama's foreign policy record.

Former Pennsylvania Sen. Rick Santorum opened it up by accusing the administration of turning a "blind eye" to the threat of radical Islam. He blames Obama for not supporting democratic revolution in Iran in 2009.

"This president, for every thug and hooligan, for every radical Islamist, he has had nothing but appeasement," Santorum said.

Jon Huntsman, Obama's former Obama ambassador to China, lambasted Obama for what he said is a "continued ambiguity" toward Israel.

Mitt Romney criticized Obama, saying he's "chastened" Israel and insulted Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu.

"And he’s been timid and weak in the face of the existential threat of a nuclear Iran," Romney said. "These actions have emboldened Palestinian hard-liners who now are poised to form a unity government with terrorist Hamas and feel they can bypass Israel at the bargaining table. President Obama has immeasurably set back the prospect of peace in the Middle East."

With Israel-Palestine peace talks on ice and Obama's relationship with Netanyahu not all that friendly, Republicans believe they have a shot at peeling away traditionally Democratic leaning Jewish voters.

The new chair of the national Democratic party -- and prominent Jewish lawmaker -- is out with remarks praising President Obama's call for Israel's pre-1967 borders — adjusted by land exchanges — to be the basis of an independent Palestine, saying he has "demonstrated his stalwart dedication to the safety and security of our friend and ally, Israel."

Obama's remarks referencing 1967 touched off a storm of criticism --even among some Jewish Democrats -- but the Florida congresswoman -- who hadn't responded to them until Obama spoke Sunday before a prominent pro-Israel lobbying group -- said they "reiterated long-standing American foreign policy.."

White House Press Secretary Robert Gibbs said Monday that anti-Israel comments from veteran columnist Helen Thomas were reprehensible, and the White House Correspondents Association called them indefensible.

The association’s board also said it’s reconsidering Thomas’s special seat in the front row of the White House briefing room.

“I think those remarks were offensive and reprehensible,” Gibbs said when asked about her comments at Monday’s press briefing.

“I think she should and has apologized. Because, obviously, those remarks …do not reflect, certainly, the opinion of, I assume, most of the people in here and certainly not of the administration.”

Thomas, who did not attend the briefing, set off a firestorm over the weekend in videotaped comments slamming Israel.

Thomas was asked about Israel on May 27. The video was recorded by the website RabbiLive.com on the day the White House held a Jewish Heritage event. The video was released Friday.
 

“Any comments on Israel,” an offscreen voice asks Thomas.

“Tell them to get the hell out of Palestine,” Thomas says.

“Where should they go?” the offscreen voice asks.

She responds that they should go home to Germany, Poland or the United States.

Thomas later released a statement apologizing.

“I deeply regret my comments I made last week regarding the Israelis and the Palestinians," Thomas said. “They do not reflect my heart-felt belief that peace will come to the Middle East only when all parties recognize the need for mutual respect and tolerance. May that day come soon."

After a special meeting Monday, the correspondents’ association board issued a statement condemning Thomas’s comments.

“Helen Thomas' comments were indefensible and the White House Correspondents Association board firmly dissociates itself from them,” the group said.

 `”Many in our profession who have known Helen for years were saddened by the comments, which were especially unfortunate in light of her role as a trail blazer on the White House beat.

 “While Helen has not been a member of the WHCA for many years, her special status in the briefing room has helped solidify her as the dean of the White House press corps so we feel the need to speak out strongly on this matter.

 “We want to emphasize that the role of the WHCA is to represent the White House press corps in its dealings with the White House on coverage-related issues. We do not police the speech of our members or colleagues. We are not involved at all in issuing White House credentials, that is the purview of the White House itself.

“But the incident does revive the issue of whether it is appropriate  for an opinion columnist to have a front row seat in the WH briefing room. That is an issue under the jurisdiction of this board. We are actively seeking input from our association members on this important matter, and we have scheduled a special  meeting of the WHCA board on Thursday to decide on the seating issue.”

Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu is canceling a planned visit to the White House on Tuesday, rushing home instead in the wake of an Israeli military raid on ships near its blockade of the Gaza strip.
 

Netanyahu spoke by phone with President Barack Obama Monday morning to inform him of the decision to cancel the visit.

“They agreed to reschedule their meeting at the first opportunity,” the White House said in a statement.

“The President expressed deep regret at the loss of life in today's incident, and concern for the wounded, many of whom are being treated in Israeli hospitals. The President also expressed the importance of learning all the facts and circumstances around this morning's tragic events as soon as possible.”

Obama is scheduled to host Palestinian President Mahmoud Abbas at the White House on June 9. Abbas on Monday called the Israeli raid a “slaughter.”

From the White House Press Secretary ...

The President will welcome Palestinian Authority President Mahmoud Abbas to the White House on June 9. The President looks forward to reviewing with President Abbas the progress so far in Israeli-Palestinian proximity talks, and how the United States can work with the parties to transition to direct talks. They will also discuss our continuing effort to work cooperatively to develop the institutions that can advance the aspirations of the Palestinian people, and support the establishment of a Palestinian state.

White House Chief of Staff Rahm Emanuel and Israeli Prime Minister talking Bar Mitzvah and Mideast peace. The transcript:

Prime Minister Netanyahu: Shalom. I am very pleased to welcome Rahm Emanuel to this office, to Israel. I understand you have had an exciting week. I understand your son had an exciting week. We want to wish him the best wishes to the entire family you are very welcome here and I look forward to our conversation

Rahm Emanuel: Mr. Prime Minster, on behalf of the President, you will be in Canada, and he has asked me to extend an invitation to you to come visit him at the White House for a work meeting to discuss both our shared security interests as well as our close cooperation in seeking peace between Israel and its neighbors.
And also on a personal matter, on behalf of the Emanuel family, I want to say that this trip has been a wonderful trip for the entire Emanuel family, most importantly for me to show my children, given so much as you know of my childhood was here, to show them the country, expose them to the history in a very intimate way and most importantly the most important thing about Israel, to its people who have been exceptionally warm and genuine in their affection to both all the family in general, but particularly to Zach on his Bar Mitzvah in wishing him a Mazal Tov. And so it has been heartfelt and nothing more than a father could wish his son on his Bar Mitzvah the way the Israeli people have treated him – now if we just get him to do his homework that will make me happy.

PM: this sounds like an impossible task, but we have shown we can do the impossible.

RE: It’s been a great trip. The entire administration, the President, particularly is looking forward to the visit June first. Thank you

PM: I gladly accept. I think we have a good invitation, I gladly accept and look forward to the meeting.

Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu will visit President Barack Obama at the White House next week.

It will be Netanyahu’s first visit since a March meeting at the White House. At the time, relations between Obama and Netanyahu were visibly strained by Obama’s insistence that Israel stop building new settlements in the occupied West Bank, and the White House refused to allow any photos or video of the two men together.

White House Chief of Staff Rahm Emanuel invited the prime minister to return during a meeting with him in Jerusalem. Emanuel met with Netanyahu during a family visit to Israel.

Emanuel said in Israel that Netanyahu and Obama would talk about “shared security interests,” likely dominated by Iran’s nuclear ambitions.

They’ll also likely talk the state of indirect peace talks between the Israelis and Palestinians, started recently under US mediation.

Obama also hopes to host Palestinian president Mahmud Abbas soon.

“The President looks forward to a visit from President Abbas in the near future. We’re just working out timing,” said White House spokesman Tommy Vietor.

White House Chief of Staff Rahm Emanuel is mixing business with pleasure during a family trip to Israel.

The White House statement:

"White House Chief of Staff Rahm Emanuel, in Israel on a private family visit, will meet with Prime Minister Netanyahu on Wednesday, May 26 for an informal discussion of a range of issues in the U.S.-Israel bilateral relationship. "On Thursday, May 27, he and his family will visit with President Peres."

PS - Aides said he flew commercial.

White House National Security Adviser Gen. James Jones apologized Monday for a joke he told last week about a Jewish merchant during a talk meant to assuage fears that the Obama White House had grown too critical of Israel.

“I wish that I had not made this off the cuff joke at the top of my remarks, and I apologize to anyone who was offended by it,” Jones said in a statement.

“It also distracted from the larger message I carried that day: that the United States commitment to Israel’s security is sacrosanct.”

The joke and apology come at difficult time for the White House – facing criticism for trying to pressure Israel to freeze settlements in the occupied West Bank and striving to assure pro-Israel voters that the administration still wholeheartedly supports the Jewish state.

Obama himself made an unscheduled visit to a meeting Monday with Jones and Israeli Defense Minister Ehud Barak, telling Barak that his administration has an “unshakeable” commitment to Israel’s defense.

"These are very clear statements from the president that we find reassuring," said Abraham H. Foxman, National Director of the Anti-Defamation League.  "This reassurance is very significant after months of public disagreement and tension between the United States and Israel, which many analysts saw as a softening of the special relationship."

Jones made a similar assurance in his remarks last week to the Washington Institute for Near East Policy, a pro-Israel group.

Breaking from his text, however, Jones opened with a joke about a member of the Taliban and Jewish merchant.

The joke, first reported by the Jewish newspaper The Forward, reportedly drew some laughs from the pro-Israel group, but has drawn criticism on some web sites and in the Israeli press.

The subject did not come up Monday when Jones and Obama met with Barak, Gibbs said.

Jones’ remarks at the institute were not included in the text of his remarks that were released by the White House. Press Secretary Robert Gibbs said the text was merely the advanced script and not a verbatim transcript. 

What Jones said at the institute:

“A member of the Taliban was separated from his fighting party and wandered around for a few days in the desert, lost, out of food, no water. He looked on the horizon and he saw what looked like a little shack, and he walked toward that shack and as he got to it, turned out that it was a shack, a store, a little store owned by a Jewish merchant. And the Taliban warrior went up to him and said, 'I need water, get me some water.' And the merchant said, 'I'm sorry, I don't have any water, but would you like to buy a tie? We have a nice sale of ties today.' 

“Whereupon the Taliban erupted into a stream of language that I can't repeat about Israel, about Jewish people, about the man himself, about his family -- and just saying 'I need water, you try to sell me ties, you people don't get it.' 

"And passively, the merchant stood there until this Taliban was through with his diatribe and said, 'Well, I'm sorry but I don't have water for you and I forgive you for all of the insults you've levied against me, my family, my country, but I will help you out. If you go over that hill and walk about two miles there's a restaurant there, and they have all the water you'll need.' 

"And the Taliban, instead of saying thanks, still muttering under his breath, disappears over the hill -- only to come back about an hour later and walking up to the merchant and says, 'Your brother tells me I need a tie in order to get into the restaurant.'"