In his perceptive article in The New Republic a couple weeks ago, Yossi Klein Halevi offered “some suggestions for Washington about how to reassure increasingly anxious Israelis.” None of the suggestions has been adopted by the Obama administration to date.
One of the suggestions was that Obama should “[a]ffirm Israel's historical legitimacy to the Muslim world.” HaLevi wrote about Obama’s Cairo speech that:
By referring only to the Holocaust, and ignoring the historical Jewish attachment to the land of Israel, the president has inadvertently reinforced Muslim misconceptions regarding Jewish indigenousness.
I am not sure the reinforcement was entirely inadvertent.
Obama reportedly consulted widely about his speech and solicited suggestions for it from experts. I may have inadvertently found the person who perhaps submitted some of the most controversial language regarding the Holocaust and the Palestinian plight. It is merely speculation, but if the speculation is correct, that person could have assured Obama the language would generate a favorable reaction from an Islamic audience; it certainly did the first time it was used. The circumstantial evidence, admittedly not conclusive (it could be simply an eerie coincidence), is here.
In other news, at the White House today, President Obama will award the Presidential Medal of Freedom, the highest civilian honor in the United States, to Mary Robinson, who presided over the Durban I conference and has been credited (by a highly reliable source) with being the person who not only presided over but materially assisted Durban's descent into disaster.
I'm Israeli & I don't want to be ''reassured'' - I don't need more BS, I get enough from Israeli politicians, thank you.
I want to see a change of POLICY not empty speeches.
Obama is no friend, quite the contrary.
Posted by: Terry, Eilat - Israel | August 12, 2009 at 02:16 AM