ADL's Foxman Thinks Obama 'Waffled' on Syria, Worried About Leadership

America’s turn toward isolationism – and its perceived weakness at home and abroad – puts the security of the Jewish people around the globe at risk, Anti Defamation League National Director Abraham Foxman told Newsmax Friday.

Foxman, reflecting on the centennial of the ADL, said the safety and well-being of Jews has depended on a “tripod of three areas.”

“One is the state of Israel, the second is the American Jewish community, and the third is the United States of America,” he said. “As long as those three remain strong, the future well-being [of the Jewish people] is secure.”

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But Foxman noted the combination of the U.S. involvement in the wars in Afghanistan and Iraq, its strategy toward the Syrian civil war, and the domestic financial crisis have put it in a position of “looking weak, acting weak” and “not willing to exercise its leadership and stand by its word.”

“On Syria, it was the president who waffled,” he said, but “Congress today can’t come together on anything ... The spirit of isolationism is coming from the left and right.”

At the ADL’s centennial dinner Thursday night – where Secretary of Defense Chuck Hagel gave a keynote address – Foxman said the world “looks at our choices, looks at our public opinion polls, looks at congressional reactions, looks at the paralysis in Washington on budgeting matters and wonders."

“I do hope it's going to turn around,” Foxman told Newsmax. “I’m worried because leadership on both sides of the aisle are unwilling to come together … the world loses its respect and its ability to follow."

Also on Friday, the ADL released the results of its new poll on anti-Semitism showing 12 percent of Americans harbor deeply entrenched anti-Semitic attitudes, a 3 percent decline since the League’s previous poll in 2011.

“It is heartening that attitudes toward Jews have improved over the last few years and, historically, have declined significantly in America,” Foxman said, telling Newsmax, however, “12 percent is still 40 million people.”

The poll showed that 14 percent of Americans believe Jews have too much power in the U.S; 30 percent say American Jews are more loyal to Israel than to their own country; 19 percent believe Jews have too much power in the business world; 17 percent say Jews have too much control on Wall Street;and 26 percent believe Jews were responsible for the death of Christ.

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