Obama reiterates commitment to Israel

WASHINGTON -- President Barack Obama assured Jewish voters Friday that he remains committed to Israel's security and a two-state solution with the Palestinians as he defended himself against attacks on his policy from Republican presidential challengers.

Obama, who has been criticized by Republicans and some in the American Jewish community for being too tough on a close ally, insisted his administration has done more than any other to protect Israel and called his commitment "unshakable.

"So don't let anybody else tell a different story," Obama told a cheering crowd at a conference of the Union for Reform Judaism, a politically liberal group. "Those are the facts."

Obama did not name names but left little doubt he was responding to Republican candidates who have recently tried to outdo each other in criticizing his policy toward Israel as they seek to cut into his support among Jewish voters.

Mitt Romney said recently Obama has "repeatedly thrown Israel under the bus," and Newt Gingrich thrust himself into controversy last week by declaring that the Palestinians are an "invented" people who want to destroy Israel.

Obama, in a pointed reference to his Republican opponents, said the bonds between Israel and the United States "transcend partisan politics -- or at least they should."

The White House wants to shore up support among Jewish voters for Obama's 2012 re-election bid. He won nearly eight of every 10 Jewish voters in 2008, but a slip would jeopardize his re-election drive in battleground states like Florida and Pennsylvania, where Jews are an important swing bloc.

-- Reuters