Rabbi Algaze cited President Obama’s past association with “progressive” Jews including Rabbi Arnold Wolf who met with Yassir Arafat, and others known to espouse anti-Israel views including Bill Ayers, Rashid Khalidi and Reverend Jeremiah Wright. Rabbi Algaze mentioned Lynn Gottlieb, who met with Iran’s president Mahmoud Ahmadinejad and is affiliated with an organization listed as an anti-Israel group by the Anti Defamation league, as one of the Rabbis for Obama. “These rabbis want Obama to continue pressuring Israel to make concessions that will endanger her security and the safety of her citizens,” noted Rabbi Algaze.

The Rabbis for Romney declaration voiced concerns over some of Obama’s actions toward Israel. Some of these include his demand to freeze construction in towns in Judea and Samaria and in Jerusalem, that he wanted to put “daylight” between America and Israel, his insistence that Israel pull back to the indefensible pre-1967 borders, and his designation of Israel as “one of our closest allies in the region.”

In contrast, Algaze points to Romney’s recent trip to Israel, his expressions of friendship to Israel and Prime Minister Binyamin Netanyahu, and his statement that, “You export technology, not tyranny or terrorism… What you have built here, with your own hands, is a tribute to your people.”

“This is hard for Jews who have been voting Democratic for generations to accept all this,” concluded Algaze in the statement. “It would be easier to ignore the problem and pretend it’s not there. But the problem is there and we need to face it. This Democratic Party is not the party of Henry Jackson, Daniel Patrick Moynihan, Harry Truman or John F. Kennedy. We who care about Israel should not ignore her in times like these. “

He also pointed optimistically to a recent Investor’s Business Daily presidential poll (IBD/TIPP) that had only 47% of Jewish votes among likely voters supporting President Obama if the election were today.

“Jews should know that there is not just one group,” he emphasized. “We don’t want the impression that all rabbis in America support Obama.”

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