The Palestinians and the Arab and Muslim world are utterly seething today. Obama’s speech in Israel has utterly convinced them he is a paid Zionist tool, I’m sure.
I recommend that you read it in full. The speech wasn’t perfect–I’m not happy he used “settlements” as the obstructor of peace again–but overall, it was a great, pro-Israel speech. It more than made up for his 2009 Cairo speech, where he linked the founding of Israel to the Holocaust. No, Mr. President, Jews have a millennia-old history in Israel, as you said:
For the Jewish people, the journey to the promise of the State of Israel wound through countless generations. It involved centuries of suffering and exile, prejudice, pogroms and even genocide. Through it all, the Jewish people sustained their unique identity and traditions, as well as a longing to return home. And while Jews achieved extraordinary success in many parts of the world, the dream of true freedom finally found its full expression in the Zionist idea – to be a free people in your homeland.
That is why I believe that Israel is rooted not just in history and tradition, but also in a simple and profound idea: the idea that people deserve to be free in a land of their own. And over the last 65 years, when Israel has been at its best, Israelis have demonstrated that responsibility does not end when you reach the promised land, it only begins.
Seething, I say. Seething. Watch for the poisonous responses in the Arab and Iranian media. Oh, and the neo-Nazi sites and last, but not least, the BBC and the Guardian. The gnashing of teeth will be loud and long.