Among the top administration aides in the Roosevelt Room of the White House were Rahm Emanuel and David Axelrod, both Chicagoans; and top Jewish organization officials Alan Solow and Lester Rosenberg, both Chicagoans. And, of course, there was the most prominent Chicagoan of them all, Barack Obama.

The meeting took place at the suggestion of Solow, who serves as chairman of the Conference of Presidents of Major American Jewish Organizations. He was one of 16 Jewish leaders from 14 Jewish organizations who participated in the session.

In an exclusive, hour-long interview with Chicago Jewish News, Solow said the purpose of the meeting was to "get together as broad a group of Jewish leaders as possible to express to the President the concerns of the Jewish community." While the leaders represent groups with very divergent views on a range of issues, he said, "what they all have in common is support for a safe and secure Israel."

Solow said the main topic of conversation was the strong stand the administration has taken calling for Israel to stop all settlement activity in the West Bank.

There was a lot of discussion about the subject, he said, with some expressing strong opinions and criticism about an imbalance in pressures placed on Israel as opposed to on the Palestinians and Arab states. Solow said the President indicated he had a sensitivity to the perception of that imbalance and had to work harder to correct that perception.

Obama made it clear, Solow said, that he has and is making "significant requests of the Palestinians and the broader Arab world to take steps to advance the peace process, such as calling on the Palestinians to stop incitement against Israel and calling on the Arab world to normalize relations with Israel, and for it all to take place at a much faster pace."

Solow said Obama expressed frustration that his calls on the Arabs "have not gotten the same level of publicity as have his remarks on settlements," pointing the figure at the media.

"He understood why we are anxious," the ADL's Abe Foxman told the Jerusalem Post. "He understood and said they have to find ways to emphasize the requirements they have made of the Palestinians."

The Post reported that Malcolm Hoenlein of the Conference of Presidents, told Obama that peace progress was likelier when there was "no daylight" between Israel and the United States. Obama agreed that it must always be clear that Israel has unalloyed U.S. support but added that for the past eight years, referring to the Bush administration, there was "no daylight and no progress."

In response to the concern among some American Jews that the settlements are but the first in a series of demands the administration is going to be making of Israel, Solow said, "the answer to that fear is no."

Solow said Obama at the outset "made it very clear that Israel's security is paramount and that, as the American President, he would never do anything that would jeopardize the security of Israel as a Jewish state. It was a point he reiterated many times during the meeting."

Obama told the group he has an optimistic sense that there is an opportunity to advance the cause of peace, but acknowledged that it will be very hard work to make it happen.

"He must have said a dozen times, 'This is really hard.' This is not sitting around the campfire singing kumbaya," Ira Forman of the National Jewish Democratic Council told the Post.

One way Obama believes he can make peace happen, Solow said, is by "reducing the anti-Americanism that pervades the Arab world, and so open doors previously closed."

While the discussion between the President and Jewish leaders briefly touched on the health care system and global hunger, the other major issue the group talked about was Iran and its pursuit of nuclear weapons. Solow said many of the Jewish leaders said they were uncomfortable with the administration's policy of seeking to engage Iran and hoped there would be a definite time limit on how long Iran would be given to respond positively.

The leaders also said that the policy of engagement should be accompanied by a series of significant sanctions to put pressure on Iran.

"There was clear consensus among all the Jewish leaders that Iran having nuclear weapons is unacceptable," Solow said.

He said while Obama was not specific on what the administration was prepared to do to stop Iran, the President did say that the policy of engagement would be evaluated in September to see if any progress was being made or if sanctions should be applied.

"No one sees the military option as the first choice," Solow said. "The focus for now should be on trying to avoid military action." While in the past, Obama has said "all options are on the table" in regard to Iran, Solow said the President did not expressly repeat that in his meeting with Jewish leaders.

Solow said the issue of an Israeli strike on Iran did not come up, saying "it is not the role of American Jewry to represent the government of Israel. The government can and does speak for itself."

The role of the Jewish leaders meeting with the President was to speak for the American Jewish community.

In addition to Solow, Jewish leaders in attendance were Jeremy Ben-Ami, executive director, J Street; Debra DeLee, president & CEO, Americans for Peace Now; Ira Forman, CEO, National Jewish Democratic Council; Abraham Foxman, national director, Anti-Defamation League; Marla Gilson, Washington director, Hadassah; Malcolm Hoenlein, executive vice chairman, Conference of Presidents of Major American Jewish Organizations; Jason Isaacson, Washington director, American Jewish Committee; Kathy Manning, chair, United Jewish Communities; Nancy Ratzan, president, National Council of Jewish Women; Lee Rosenberg, president-elect, AIPAC; Stephen Savitsky, president, Orthodox Union; Andrea Weinstein, chair, Jewish Council for Public Affairs; Rabbi Steven Wernick, executive vice president, United Synagogue of Conservative Judaism; David Victor, president, AIPAC; and Rabbi Eric Yoffie, president, Union for Reform Judaism.

Solow said the mood in the meeting was "comfortable. There was a sense of excitement, of course, meeting with the President of the United States, but also a sense of the importance of the items on the agenda."

Obama was very gracious and "made an effort to engage with all of us. He made it clear he wanted to hear what people had to say and wanted to engage in a conversation, not just talk at us.

"There was a lot of back and forth, with the President making a point of calling on those he knew would forcefully raise their concerns. He appreciates honesty and direct dialogue and no one was afraid to voice their opinions. We were all struck by the sincerity of his intentions and by his thoughtful listening."

Solow called the meeting "a good beginning" and said he sure "there will be many more opportunities for dialogue."

While Solow was at the meeting in his position as chairman of the Conference of Presidents, he is also a longtime personal friend of Obama and said "it's meaningful to see someone you've known for a long time be the President of the United States. I was impressed that his warm personality and calm demeanor have not changed. He is exactly the same as he has been in years past."