President Obama’s speech to students in Jerusalem is covered by Aljazeera. Obama did complain a little about the Israeli occupation of the Palestinians, but he threw in the towel on trying to halt the vast and daily landgrab of Israeli colonizers on Palestinian territory. He postponed the issue to final status negotiations, over which he obviously does not intend to preside. In other words, Obama in Jerusalem adopted the Romney Plan for the Mideast: ” “You hope for some degree of stability, but you recognize that this is going to remain an unsolved problem… and we kick the ball down the field and hope that ultimately, somehow, something will happen and resolve it.”
Even Obama’s relatively mild complaint that the Palestinians, are being kept stateless provoked rage on the Israeli right, despite his having given in to Prime Minister Netanyahu on the issue of a halt to settlements. Although they were angry and defiant, they did often acknowledge that Obama is personally warm toward Israel and that he was no longer pressuring it to stop the settlements.
The US media seldom reports on the internal politics of other countries, and likely won’t convey to us the reaction of the ruling Israeli Likud Party to Obama’s speech. But the USG Open Source Center translated some reactions from Likud members of parliament and from settler leaders, who are colonizing the Palestinian West Bank. These Israelis warned of the destructive character of Obama’s agenda in Israel and vowed to fight any implementation of his suggestions.
“MK Regev: Speech Urged To Exert ‘Pressure’ on Netanyahu Leadership
Walla! at 1545 GMT carries the reaction of Likud MK [Member of Parliament] Miri Regev: “Obama’s visit is in fact the speech at the International Convention Center, not the receptions, not the meeting with Netanyahu and not the press conferences. Obama called here for public pressure against Netanyahu’s leadership.”
MK Shaqed: Judea and Samaria ‘Our Iron Dome’
Moran Azulay reports in Ynet at 1701 GMT on Jewish Home MK Ayelet Shaqed’s reaction: “Obama is a true friend of Israel, this cannot be refuted. But at the end of the day, we will have to bear the tragic and destructive results of the establishment of a Palestinian state. This is the reason why the Israeli people chose a government that does not support the notion of a two-state solution. Judea and Samaria [the West Bank] are our Iron Dome.”
Settler Leaders: Speech Tried To Create ‘Illusion’
Josh Briner reports in leading news website Walla! in Hebrew at 1714 GMT on the statement issued by the Yesha Settlement Council: “President Obama’s speech was warm and embracing, but at the same time he tried to create an illusion of public support for developments that are dangerous to Israel. We believe this is the reason no students from Ari’el University [on the West Bank] were invited. Israelis have experience with illusions that blew up in our face, and will not support the dangerous offers of Obama. The Israeli public makes its political choices in a democratic way by voting in elections, and not by urging the country’s young to oppose its leadership.”
Moran Azulay reports in centrist news site Ynetnews in English at 1749 GMT: “Naftali Bennett, the newly appointed economy and trade minister and a member of the Political-Security Cabinet, was the first senior politician to respond to US President Barack Obama’s speech in Jerusalem. ‘The results of our latest pullout were felt this morning in Sederot and by the thousands of victims born during the last few years,’ Bennett said Thursday in reference to the rocket attack from Gaza on the Israeli border town.’ . . . Bennett said, challenging the wide acceptance of the two-state solution … ‘Generally,’ the new minister added, ‘there is no occupation within one’s own land.’…
MK Yishay: ‘Concerned’ By What Obama Didn’t Say
Kobi Nahshoni reports on Ynetnews at 1901 GMT that Shas MK Eli Yishay told Ynet: “It was a good speech, but clearly there are no free lunches, and now he will probably demand that Netanyahu take active steps towards peace. After feeling that he prefers the Palestinians to us, he has really imparted great warmth and love on Israel. However, this does not mean that there are no strings attached. I am content with what Obama said, but more than that — I am concerned with what has yet to be said.”
Jerusalem Mayor: Big Change in Obama’s Approach
Ya’ir Altman reports in Walla! at 1638 GMT the reaction of Jerusalem Mayor Nir Barqat: “I think there is a big change in the US President’s approach. Up until now he pushed us aggressively, but today we heard a speech of a friend who shares his views with us and gives us his unconditional support.”
“Too Good To Be True” by Shalom Yerushalmi, published on page 2 of Ma’ariv, says … “. . . we should make no mistake: There are no free gifts and no gestures without interests. Obama made two high jumps here. He spoke to the Israeli public over the government’s head. He went to the US Congress over the Israeli public’s head. He used feel-good diplomacy on the Israelis. We are not coming to coerce you as we had in the past, he announced. We are coming to learn, to understand, but you should know that an arrangement with the Palestinians is in your interest and in the interest of the Jewish people. … This morning, Obama will go to Ramallah to meet with Abu-Mazin. At one point, peace with the Palestinians burned in his bones. The great fights with Netanyahu focused on that. This time Obama came to Israel without a prepared foreign policy plan, and also without making a ‘big announcement,’ as he admitted. Is this a new approach that is uncharacteristic of the administration, one that attests to the failure of the previous initiatives? Did the energetic secretary of state, John Kerry, come here in advance just to waste time, like most of his predecessors? Or is this a different tactic, in which someone has smeared honey on plastic spoons that will one day return to being sharp knives? After all, this all seems too good to be true.” (Tel Aviv Ma’ariv in Hebrew — Independent, centrist, third-largest circulation Hebrew-language daily)
Last week before Obama arrived there was this item:
Rabbinical Congress Urges Telling Obama Palestinian State To ‘Never Be Established’ — Arutz Sheva reports on 8 March: ” The Rabbinical Congress for Peace (RCP), comprised of over 350 prominent rabbis in Israel from religious Zionist, Haredi (ultra-Orthodox) and Chabad sectors, Torah leaders of the past and present, has sent a very sharp letter to the heads of the political parties in Israel as they are negotiating on forming a new government, criticizing them for completely ignoring the danger hovering over the millions of residents in Israel as a result of the two-state solution. ‘Is this a time to argue over jobs and portfolios or who will blink first while the ominous threat of a Palestinian state is in the making? If such a state will be established, terrorism will soar and millions of people will be in danger. Instead of finding ways to stop the madness of the so-called two-state solution party leaders are now engaged in power and ego struggles,’ the RCP letter read.” “In their letter, the rabbis called upon all parties to receive President Barack Obama with a clear declaration that a Palestinian Arab state will never be established on Israeli land and to ensure Israel’s security by preserving its borders. Only this will ultimately bring peace to the region.”
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