Gary Bauer, a leading Christian Zionist, disputes Democratic presidential frontrunner Barack Obama's contention that he's Israel's staunchest defender. 

Senator Obama (D-Illinois) recently met publicly with Jewish community leaders in Philadelphia in an effort to assure them he is a loyal ally of Israel. Although he was slow to condemn his former pastor's anti-Israel diatribes, Obama stated that "no one's been a more stalwart ally of Israel" and argued that his support of Israel rivals that of Senators Hillary Clinton (D-New York) and John McCain (R-Arizona).
 
But Evangelical leader Gary Bauer, who serves on the board of Christians United for Israel, says Obama's claims to be pro-Israel do not come close to passing the straight-face test. "He not only attended and continues to attend for the last 20 years a church, whose pastor is not only anti-Israel, but appears to be anti-Semitic," Bauer charges, "but he also has surrounded himself with foreign policy advisors that have ... a history of being anti-Israel."

Bauer thinks it is strange for Obama to claim he is pro-Israel, when every time he has addressed the issue he called for Israel to give up more land in the vain hope its enemies will finally recognize Israel's right to exist.
 
The pro-Israeli spokesman also brings into question Obama's willingness to negotiate with Iranian President Mahmoud Ahmadinejad. He says that is akin to former President Jimmy Carter's meeting with the leader of the Palestinian terror group Hamas. Ahmadinejad has denied the Holocaust of World War II took place, and he has called for the destruction of Israel. Bauer warns that meeting with the Iranian leader would only strengthen his regime.
 
Bauer also notes that Winston Churchill never negotiated with Adolf Hitler because he knew the Nazi leader's worldview was diametrically opposed to what the West believed in, and that nothing could be gained from meeting with a mass murderer.

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