In its wrap of Senator John McCain’s speech yesterday before AIPAC, The Wall Street Journal makes an obvious but important point:

The Republican presidential candidate’s speech Monday before the American Israel Public Affairs Committee drew a standing ovation and illustrates how Iran, more than the Palestinian-Israeli conflict, has emerged as the defining issue for candidates wooing Jewish-American voters.

That’s especially true in a week when Iranian President Mahmoud Ahmadinejad vowed that Israel would soon be “erased”:

You should know that the criminal and terrorist Zionist regime which has 60 years of plundering, aggression and crimes in its file has reached the end of its work and will soon disappear off the geographical scene.

So how is Obama going to make Jews comfortable with his vow to engage Iran? We’ll see tomorrow, when he takes the stage at AIPAC’s annual convention.

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