Ferre: 'Obama Needs to Address Israeli Fears'

Former Mayor Maurice Ferre, currently running for the Democratic nomination for U.S. Senate, took President Barack Obama to task on relations with Israel. His campaign released a position paper on American-Israeli relations.

President Obama needs to address Israeli fears, said Ferre. He addressed the fears of the greater Muslim world by going to Cairo. He needs to go to Israel and make a similar sincere gesture of outreach.

Ferre left no doubt about where he stood on the thorny issue of whether the Palestinians or the Israelis should hold Jerusalem.

Jerusalem has been important to the Jewish people, said Ferre. Israel has done well to maintain the access and integrity of all religious sites in Jerusalem. I personally believe Jerusalem should be the capital of Israel; however, that choice is not mine to make nor the U.S.'s to make.

It is in the best interest of the U.S. to help maintain a strong, healthy, democratic and free Israel, said Ferre. That is our best hope for peace in the Middle East and in our need to contain and protect the U.S. from the ongoing terrorist threat to the world of a small, but fanatical and determined, anti-West faction of militant Islam.