"Obama Presses Israel to Make Hard Choices" was the front-page New York Times headline after President Obama's speech to the American Israel Public Affairs Committee (AIPAC) Sunday. The headline referred to Obama's assertion that the June 4, 1967 borders must be the basis for future Israeli-Palestinian talks.

In his AIPAC speech, the president made important points about the importance of U.S.-Israel security cooperation and the need to prevent Iran from acquiring nuclear weapons. But those were largely ignored in media accounts of the president's remarks.

"What the world heard and what the world understood – even if many Jewish Democrats remain in denial – is that Obama believes Israel must be pressured hard if there is to be peace. His condescending manner at AIPAC made it clear that he considers Israel to be the primary obstacle to peace," Jonathan Tobin wrote on Commentary magazine's blog "Contentions."

According to Tobin, the president omitted a number of key historical points from his AIPAC speech. Specifically, he left out the fact that Israel has repeatedly made "hard choices" to relinquish territory for peace. In 1993, Israel signed the Oslo Accords, paving the way for Yasser Arafat to take over Gaza and Jericho. In 2005, Israel unilaterally withdrew from Gaza. Tobin also observes that Israel "offered Arafat in 2000 and 2001 and his successor Mahmoud Abbas in 2008, a Palestinian state in virtually all of the West Bank, a share of Jerusalem and Gaza and was turned down every time."

Some other "hard choices" include the following: Israel relinquished the entire Sinai Peninsula twice - after the 1956 Suez campaign, which followed years of raids from Gaza-based terrorists, and again following the 1979 peace treaty with Egypt. In May 2000, Israel unilaterally withdrew from its southern Lebanon "security zone." The terrorist organization Hizballah filled the void, building a military infrastructure there and triggering the 2006 war.

Although he puts much of the onus on Israel, the president is also demanding changes from the Palestinian side. During a Wednesday joint press conference in London with British Prime Minister David Cameron, Obama warned the Palestinians not to try to circumvent direct negotiations with Israel by winning a statehood endorsement at the United Nations. He also said that if the terror organization Hamas still refuses to recognize Israel and renounce violence, "it is very difficult to expect Israelis to have a serious conversation" with a Palestinian state.