Jewish attorney Yoram Sheftel has said that the White House announcement that Jonathan Pollard would not be released even before the Medal of Freedom was awarded to Israeli President Shimon Peres proves once again that Barack Obama is an anti-Semite who hates Jews

Sheftel was referring to the press briefing in which White House Spokesman Jay Carney clarified, “Our position has not changed and will not change today. I would simply remind you that Mr. Pollard was convicted of very serious crimes." “In order to show their hostility towards us, the White House published, even before the meeting between Peres and Obama, a cynical, evil and anti-Semitic message that fits the Obama administration,” Sheftel said, adding, “This is Barack Obama’s real anti-Semitic face.” Sheftel stated that giving Peres the Medal of Freedom was done for political purposes, saying, “It was a cynical act by the most hostile president to Israel since President Roosevelt, who was one of the architects of the Holocaust, when he prevented the bombing of Auschwitz. Obama wants to be elected for another term in the White House. He knew he was getting very little support among American Jews because of his hostile attitude towards Israel and here he had a blatantly cynical opportunity to give the Medal of Freedom to President Peres, and thus increase the Jewish support in the presidential election.” He added, “Peres willingly entered Obama’s trap and allowed Obama to say empty words about the historical alliance [between the two countries] and the security of Israel. After all, Obama is the one who wants to push us out of our natural borders and establish the State of Hamastan. What security is he talking about?” A poll of Israelis finds that they trust the United States to come to Israel's help in an existential threat, but do not trust Barack Obama. The poll was prepared for the Begin Sadat Center at Bar Ilan University and the Anti-Defamation League. Since 2009, the percentage of Israelis who say that they view Obama positively has dropped sharply from 54% to 32%, while the percentage of Israelis who view him very unfavorably has risen from 14% to 23%. Recently, the Gallup polling agency found that Obama currently has the support of 64% of Jewish registered voters, 10% less than the percentage of Jews who voted for Obama in 2008, and similar to the percentage of Jews who voted for Michael Dukakis when he contended for the presidency against George Bush in 1988.