Israel has right ‘to be secure as a homeland of the Jewish people’

Levy asks Obama about some Israelis’ negative perceptions of him.

“Some of this is politics… There are conservative views both here in the United States and Israel that may not jive with mine.” And those play out in election seasons. But “I’ve run my last election…” He’s going to be where he is for the next four years.

He wants to tell Israelis, he says, of his admiration for Israel’s history, core values, economic success and “the fundamental right of Israel to be secure as a homeland of the Jewish people, and its connection to the land.”

He’s had his differences with some about the shared goal of how best to preserve Israel as a democratic, Jewish state. “Resolving the Palestinian issue is good” for Israel’s security. If it can be resolved, he stresses.