From the Wall Street Journal
Why Israelis Are Cool on the Obama Speech
What’s needed is an affirmation of Israel’s historical right to exist.
by Judea Pearl
summary
1. The litmus test for Palestinians is the Israeli settlements. The litmus test for the Israelis is the continues incitement in the schools, mosques and media of the Palestinians. Obama called on the Israelis the stop the settlements and even called them ‘illegitimate’, but he called on nothing from the Palestinians.
2. Obama traced the legitimacy of Israel to the Holocaust, not the 2,000 year historical tie to the land. This plays into the hands of the Arabs who wonder out loud why they should be forced to sacrifice for the European and Christian crime.
read the article here
HKO comments
other articles have noted the references to extremists in a way that separated the responsibility of the legitimate regimes that support them. It would be nice to see a clear distinction between defense and terrorism; and the dismissal of the “moral equivalency” that poisons the dialogue.
I did hear Obama call on the Arab world to cease saying one thing in the public forum addressed to the west and another when addressing their own forum. Kudos for his call to public honesty.