"... My closeness to the Jewish American community was probably what propelled me to the U.S. Senate ...(and beyond)

(More) excerpts from President Obama's interview (released today) to Israel's Channel 2 TV:

Q Now, I must ask you this, Mr. President, there are people in Israel who are anxious about you --

THE PRESIDENT: Right.

Q -- and who -- you know, I'm quoting their sentiments -- feel like you don't have a special connection to Israel. How do you respond to that:

THE PRESIDENT: Well, it's interesting -- this is the thing that actually surfaced even before I was elected President, in some of the talk that was circulating within the Jewish American community. Ironically, I've got a Chief of Staff named Rahm Israel Emmanuel. My top political advisor is somebody who is a descendent of Holocaust survivors. My closeness to the Jewish American community was probably what propelled me to the U.S. Senate.

And my not just knowledge but sympathy and identification with the Jewish experience is rooted in part because of the historic connection between the African American freedom movement here in the United States and the civil rights efforts of Jewish Americans and some of the same impulses that led to the creation of Israel.

And so I think what this arises from -- some of it may just be the fact that my middle name is Hussein, and that creates suspicion. Some of it may have to do with the fact that I have actively reached out to the Muslim community, and I think that sometimes, particularly in the Middle East, there's the feeling of the friend of my enemy must be my enemy. And the truth of the matter is, is that my outreach to the Muslim community is designed precisely to reduce the antagonism and the dangers posed by a hostile Muslim world to Israel and to the West...."