CHARLOTTE, N.C., Sept. 4 (UPI) -- Republicans are distorting U.S. President Barack Obama's record on Israel, former Congressman Robert Wexler told Democrats meeting in Charlotte, N.C., Tuesday.
Obama has held an "unflinching commitment" to Israel's security and future as a Jewish state, Wexler told the Democratic National Convention Tuesday.
"Under President Obama, the United States and Israel are firmly committed to stopping one of greatest threats to international security -- Iran's quest for nuclear weapons," said Wexler, president of the S. Daniel Abraham Center for Middle East Peace.
Republicans, including presidential nominee Mitt Romney, Tuesday decried the Democratic Party's 2012 platform for the removal of what Republicans said was pro-Israel language that had been included in previous platforms.
"It is unfortunate that the entire Democratic Party has embraced President Obama's shameful refusal to acknowledge that Jerusalem is Israel's capital," Romney said. "Four years of President Obama's repeated attempts to create distance between the United States and our cherished ally have led the Democratic Party to remove from their platform an unequivocal acknowledgment of a simple reality."
Obama has provided funds to boost Israel's military and defense, as well as funding to deploy an anti-rocket defense system, Wexler said.
"Now the president's opponents have been busy distorting his record," said Wexler, who once represented Florida in the U.S. House. "Last week Mitt Romney claimed that President Obama has thrown Israel under the bus."
Wexler said naysayers should listen to Israeli leaders such as Prime Minister Binyamin Netanyahu and President Shimon Peres who have praised Obama for his support of Israel and have said he wears his "support of the Jewish State as a badge of honor."
"Now is time to continue the strong U.S.-Israel relationship," Wexler said, and stand with Israel as the Middle Eastern country works toward peace and security and toward living side by side with an "independent, non-military" Palestinian state.
