Siegal cut to the chase, saying “American Jewish supporters of the deal have been called ugly names, while opponents have been accused of war-mongering and worse. And so many of these allegations come with sort of deep anti-Semitic undertones. Needless to say, this uncivil rhetoric has made our community very uncomfortable. During your time in office, you have been clear about your opposition to anti-Semitism in all of its repugnant forms. So, Mr. President, what is your reaction to the use of this hateful rhetoric? And what can we do collectively to elevate the dialogue?”
The President insisted that “at no point have I ever suggested … that somebody is a warmonger, meaning they want war. What I have said — and this I don’t apologize for — is that if this deal is rejected … then there have to be alternatives. There has to be a better way to accomplish our goal of making sure Iran doesn’t have a nuclear weapon.” Nevertheless, “what’s important to remember is that we’re all pro-Israel and we’re all family. And the Jewish members in Congress who are supporting this deal … I think they feel a commitment to Israel and having knowledge of the Jewish history that rivals anyone else’s. And those in my administration who care deeply about this issue and who are supporting this deal, their motives shouldn’t be questioned.”
Also, according to Obama, “those who oppose it, my view is that they have a sincere concern because, just as the people in Israel have a sincere concern, when you have a regime that denies the Holocaust, that’s going to make you worried. You got to take that seriously. And so I recognize where the anxieties come from. But I think that it’s important for us to remember the bonds that hold us together more than — that go well beyond this particular issue.”
Moving on to another core issue of the discussion, Siegal asked, “so how do you see us re-energizing the relationship between Israel and the United States?”
The President said, “I’ll be honest with you, I think this is going to happen pretty quick, because we both have a shared interest in not just preventing Iran from getting a nuclear weapon, but also making sure that they’re not sending weapons to Hezbollah, that … Iran is not destabilizing its neighbors. So not only do we have a shared history, shared values, not only are we family, but even on this particular issue of Iran, we agree more than we disagree.”
According to Obama, “we’ve been in discussions with the Israeli government for months now about the importance of us getting back on track and working together to enhance our security cooperation, to think about, what are the next generations of missile defense programs that we can set up? How do we improve our intelligence and interdiction to prevent arms from being sent to terrorist organizations? How do we counteract Iranian proxies in the region? And those are all things that we should be doing anyway — even if we weren’t having this debate on the Iranian deal.”
The president continued: “I’ve heard some suggest that the reason I’m calling for all this enhanced cooperation is to compensate for the fact that Iran is going to be more dangerous after this deal. Nothing could be further from the truth. These are things that I’ve been suggesting we need to be doing consistently.”
Siegal said he is “just concerned how you feel about when you see these insults that are coming from the Ayatollah and the regime that says, death to America, death to Israel — tweets that are incredibly repugnant. Where is the mutual respect from their side?”