WASHINGTON (AFP) — Democratic hopeful Barack Obama said Wednesday that as president he would do his utmost to help Israel defend itself from any regional threat, as he criticized ex-president Jimmy Carter for seeking to meet with Hamas.
"As president, I will do everything that I can to help (Israel) protect itself ... We will make sure that it can defend itself from any attack, whether it comes from as close as Gaza or as far as Tehran," Obama told a synagogue in Philadelphia, according to his campaign aides.
He said US-Israeli cooperation, although successful, "can be deepened and strengthened."
Obama, who has said he would meet with US enemies Iran and Cuba if elected president, criticized Carter's expected meeting Wednesday in Cairo with Hamas, stressing: "Hamas is not a state, Hamas is a terrorist organization."
The Illinois senator, whose middle name Hussein has raised concern among critics that he harbors Muslim sympathies -- he is a Christian -- spoke to 75 representatives of the Jewish community in Pennsylvania's biggest city, a week ahead of the state's key primary in the race for the White House.
Obama told to his audience he was a friend both of the Jewish community and of Israel, his campaign said.
Asked about the future of Jerusalem, which Israel took over in the 1967 Arab-Israeli war, Obama said it was up to the parties involved to decide, but stressed that returning the city to its pre-1967 partitioned state "is not an acceptable option."
Obama said that because of his background, he was "uniquely positioned" to help Israel.
"My links to the Jewish community are not political. They preceded my entry into politics."
He also promised that if he were elected president, the United States would continue to veto anti-Israeli resolutions at the United Nations.
Robert Wexler, Florida Democrat in the House of Representatives, told reporters after the meeting that Obama "unequivocally rejects the Palestinian right of return" -- a perennial sticking point in Palestinian-Israeli peace talks -- because he understands that Israel must remain a Jewish state.
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