J Street President Jeremy Ben-Ami released the following statement after White House Chief of Staff Rahm Emanuel invited Israeli Prime Minister Netanyahu to meet with President Obama next week:
J Street welcomes President Barack Obama’s invitation to Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu for a meeting at the White House next week. With partisan political operatives, commentators, and bloggers peddling distortions about President Obama’s commitment to Israel, the meeting is an excellent opportunity to correct the record, as well as advance the ball on the two-state solution, reaffirm the strong US-Israel relationship, and pursue a joint strategy on Iran.
This meeting is yet another example of the President personally engaging in the peace process. Without his leadership, the two-state solution may very well die on our watch — and with it, any hope for Israel to achieve real peace and security as a Jewish, democratic home. We hope that the President uses this opportunity with the Prime Minister to relay the United States’ position that a two-state solution to the Israeli-Palestinian conflict must be urgently achieved, both because of the importance to U.S. interests in the region and because it is the only way Israel can achieve lasting security for its citizens.