Early wire reports of Secretary of State Rice’s appearance before the General Assembly of United Jewish Communities show that this largest annual gathering of American Jews is indeed reflective of our community’s attitudes. As reported by JTA “Rice was cheered multiple times when discussing the need to defend Israel, fight anti-Semitism and confront Hamas and Iran. But the crowd was silent as she described the P.A. president, Mahmoud Abbas, as a true
partner for peace and said now there was “responsible leadership” with which Israel could deal. “Coming the day after the Palestinian’s chief negotiator declared that they will not recognize Israel as a Jewish state this reaction from thousands of American Jews should come as no surprise to the Secretary of State.