Barack Obama at the American Israel Public Affairs Committee's annual policy conference. (Photo: Doug Mills/The New York Times)

Updated|1:40 p.m. Introduced as the nominee of the Democratic Party, Senator Barack Obama drew several standing ovations from a vastly Jewish crowd at the American Israel Public Affairs Committee's annual policy conference in Washington on Wednesday, talking tough on the Iranian threat to Israel while also promising that he would lead in pursuing a peace settlement in Israel.

Mr. Obama endorsed a two-state, Israel-Palestine settlement, and took an implicit poke at President Bush. He was speaking, as did John McCain before him on Monday, to a policy conference of the American Israel Public Affairs Committee, a major lobbying organization for Israel. (Video)

''I won't wait until the waning days of my presidency,'' Mr. Obama said. ''I will take an active role and make a personal commitment to do all I can to advance the cause of peace from the start of my administration.''

As president, he added: ''I will work to help Israel achieve the goal of two states, a Jewish state of Israel and a Palestinian state, living side by side in peace and security.''

Shortly after he spoke, his former rival, Senator Hillary Rodham Clinton came a touch closer than she did last night to acknowledging that he is the nominee of the party. She vouched for Mr. Obama's friendship and concern for Israel, but did not call him the nominee.

''Let me be very clear,'' she said, ''I know Senator Obama will be a good friend of Israel.''

Mr. Obama defended his stance that he would negotiate with the nation's enemies, but coupled that with a pledge of unstinting support for Israel's security. He also promised to send military hardware to Israel under the same conditions governing NATO nations.

He talked tough on Iran, describing it in terms suggestive of a rogue nation. He made clear that he would place the military might of the United States behind Israel in the event of an Iranian attack on the Jewish state.

But he stopped short of explicitly echoing Mrs. Clinton, who earlier in the primary campaign threatened to obliterate Iran if it used nuclear weapons against Israel. Some more conservative Jewish Democrats have sought a similar declaration from Mr. Obama, which he did not deliver.

''I will do everything in my power to prevent Iran from obtaining a nuclear weapon,'' he said, adding for emphasis: ''Everything.

''That starts with aggressive, principled diplomacy without self-defeating preconditions, but with a clear-eyed understanding of our interests.''

He gave a brief nod at his speech's start to the Internet rumors that swirl about his commitment to the Jewish state.

''Before I begin, I want to say that I know some provocative e-mails have been circulating throughout Jewish communities across the country,'' he said. ''A few of you may have gotten them. They're filled with tall tales and dire warnings about a certain candidate for president.

''All I want to say is, let me know if you see this guy named Barack Obama, because he sounds pretty scary.''

This elicited some modest laughs from the audience, which throughout the first half of his speech seemed most intent on listening and drawing his measure.

So he continued: ''But if anyone has been confused by these e-mails, I want you to know that today I'll be speaking from my heart, and as a true friend of Israel.''

Characteristic of this politician, he then framed Israel's struggle in the lens of his own experience and understanding of history.

''I first became familiar with the story of Israel when I was 11 years old. I learned of the long journey and steady determination of the Jewish people to preserve their identity through faith, family and culture. Year after year, century after century, Jews carried on their traditions, and their dream of a homeland, in the face of impossible odds.

''The story made a powerful impression on me. I had grown up without a sense of roots. My father was black, he was from Kenya, and he left when I was 2. My mother was white, she was from Kansas, and I'd moved with her to Indonesia and back to Hawaii. In many ways, I didn't know where I came from. So I was drawn to the belief that you could sustain a spiritual, emotional and cultural identity. And I deeply understood the Zionist idea that there is always a homeland at the center of our story.''

He finished by invoking the legacy of the many Jews who joined the civil rights struggle in this nation, and referenced the fraying of that alliance these past few decades.

''Their legacy is our inheritance,'' he said. ''We must not allow the relationship between Jews and African Americans to suffer. This is a bond that must be strengthened. Together, we can rededicate ourselves to end prejudice and combat hatred.''

Now, he said to loud applause and a standing ovation, ''is the time to join together in the work of repairing this world.''

http://thecaucus.blogs.nytimes.com/2008/06/04/obama-reaches-out-to-pro-israel-group/index.html?partner=rssnyt&emc=rss

Democrats did not expect Senator Joseph I. Lieberman of Connecticut, the independent and former Democratic vice presidential nominee, to endorse Senator Barack Obama after he secured enough delegates to be the Democratic presidential pick. After all, Mr. Lieberman is a close ally of Senator John McCain.

But they evidently did not anticipate he would join in a Republican event criticizing Mr. Obama's stance on Iran and Israel when the Democrat was making his first appearance as the presumptive nominee before a leading Jewish organization.

That did not go over well with Democrats, who have made an uneasy peace with Mr. Lieberman since they need his vote to hold the majority in the Senate. It is one thing to back his friend; it is another thing to aggressively go after Mr. Obama in concert with lawmakers such as Representative Eric Cantor of Virginia, a member of the House Republican leadership.

''To attack Barack, it seemed like crossing a line,'' said Representative Rahm Emanuel, Democrat of Illinois.

On the conference call organized by the McCain campaign, Mr. Lieberman weighed in after his colleague's speech at the American Israel Political Affairs Committee. He said Mr. Obama seemed to blame American foreign policy for most of the current tension with Iran and its threats against Israel. ''If Israel is in trouble today, it is not because of American foreign policy,'' he told reporters.

The word evidently got back to Mr. Obama, who cornered Mr. Lieberman for an intense chat on the Senate floor when he dropped by for a budget vote.

Some Democrats were privately agitating for retaliation against Mr. Lieberman, who because of his decision to caucus with the party serves as chairman of the Homeland Security and Governmental Affairs Committee. But the party has little recourse now. And his potential high-profile role in the McCain campaign is hardly news since he has said he would consider delivering a speech at the Republican National Convention.

A spokesman for Mr. Lieberman said disagreements were matters of policy and suggested they would continue. Marshall Wittman, the spokesman, said, ''Senator Lieberman remains a member of the Democratic Party, but supports Senator McCain because he strongly believes that he is best prepared to be Commander in Chief and to work across party lines to get things done. Senator Lieberman has great respect for his colleague, Senator Obama, and will always, as he did in the conference call this morning, make his expressions of disagreement substantive and not personal.''

Mr. Lieberman, well aware that Democrats are likely to strengthen their majority in November, also does not want to go too far in irritating his Democratic colleagues. And on most issues beyond the Iraq war, he tends to side with them. It is delicate balancing act likely to get trickier as the campaign wears on.

Not be forgotten, however, is that Mr. Obama joined other Democrats in endorsing Mr. Lieberman's Democratic foe, Ned Lamont, when Mr. Lieberman ran as an independent.