Barack Obama

NEW YORK (JTA) -- Jewish organizational leaders rejected the notion that their meeting with President Obama was negative in any way.

A JTA article this week reported that President Obama, in a meeting Tuesday with members of the Conference of Presidents of Major American Jewish Organizations, reaffirmed American support for Israeli security and discussed U.S. policy in the Middle East in a spirit of cordiality and respect.

Barely two days after returning from leading a congregational mission to Israel, I was privileged this past Tuesday to attend a special session in the White House, with President Obama and some of his closest advisors. The topic was recent developments in the Middle East, their impact on American foreign policy, and more particularly on the peace process between Israel and the Palestinians. The session was organized by the Conference of Presidents of Major Jewish Organizations. As Vice-President of the Rabbinical Assembly, I was representing the rabbis of the Conservative movement.

NEW YORK (JTA) -- The PLO representative to Washington called for a new approach to solving the Israeli-Palestinian conflict, saying the two sides are far from resolution.

“We are not close to ending this conflict,” the representative, Maen Rashid Areikat, said Wednesday at a kosher luncheon organized by New York University’s Taub Center for Israel Studies and the Berman Jewish Policy Archive at NYU’s Wagner School of Public Service.

NEW YORK (JTA) – President Obama reportedly urged Jewish communal leaders to speak to their friends and colleagues in Israel and to “search your souls” over Israel's seriousness about making peace.

In an hourlong meeting Tuesday with about 50 representatives from the Jewish community’s chief foreign policy umbrella group, the Conference of Presidents of Major American Jewish Organizations, Obama reiterated the U.S. commitment to Israel, according to statements from both the White House and Conference of Presidents.

(JTA) -- America opposes efforts to de-legitimize Israel, President Obama told a 50-member delegation of Jewish leaders during a White House meeting.

Obama met Tuesday with members of the Conference of Presidents of Major American Jewish Organizations.

(JTA) -- Former White House Chief of Staff Rahm Emanuel was elected mayor of Chicago.

Emanuel garnered 55 percent of the vote in a five-way race on Tuesday, becoming the city's first Jewish mayor.

The election was the first time in 20 years that incumbent Mayor Richard Daley did not appear on the ballot.

Because Emanuel received more than 50 percent of the vote, he will become mayor without the need for a runoff election in April.