Obama is in the Details

 

[I hope this caution proves unnecessary, but Israelis should not buy the retreads and damaged goods Obama will be trying to sell them this week. df]

 

 

3/15/13

 

HUSSEIN OF JERUSALEM

 

By Daniel Greenfield (Sultan Knish)

 

Barack Obama met with several controversial anti-Israel Arab groups ahead of his visit to the Jewish state on March 20. The groups included MPAC and ADC, both of whom put forward proposals in support of Hamas.

 

Obama reportedly said, "he wanted to see what kind of concessions the Israelis are willing to make and push them in that direction, that's why he wants to give the speech to the Israeli people,"

 

But Obama warned that the speech to the Israeli public might not have what the Arab participants in the meeting were looking for. "But he implored us to give them a pass on this one," the source said.

 

Obama also expressed his frustrations with the lack of progress on the negotiations. 'The only people more frustrated than me,' Obama said, were the 'Palestinians living in West Bank and Gaza – it's a legitimate frustration,'" the source quoted Obama as saying.

 

And that "big speech", he wants a pass from Muslims on, will not be given in the Knesset, Israel's parliament, but in a conference center.

 

 In 2008, Bush visited Israel and addressed the Knesset, Israel's parliament. Clinton addressed the Knesset in 1994. Even Carter did it in 1979. Obama addressed the British Parliament on his visit. He also found the time to address the Parliament of Ghana,  the Indian Parliament and the Australian Parliament…

 

So why is Obama dumping the Knesset for a giant auditorium?

 

Obama's Cairo speech was given at Cairo University. Carter had addressed the Egyptian Parliament. Obama could have done it too, but giving a speech away from parliament showed disapproval of the Egyptian government and a ploy to suggest to the opposition that he would support their revolution.

 

Instead, Obama is bringing in student "representatives" from Israeli universities, a group that skews to the left. Tellingly, [Samaria's] Ariel University, one of the country's more conservative institutions has been barred from sending a representative.

 

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Closely related: Obama is Boycotting Ariel U

Dan Friedman
NYC