Obama Speaks in Jerusalem: 'This is a blunt speech that is going well, right over Netanyahu's head,'

[bigtree]

Last edited Thu Mar 21, 2013, 11:31 PM - Edit history (1)

tweeted by, Dan Pfeiffer ‏@pfeiffer44 1m

Been to hundreds if not thousands of Obama speeches over the last six years and there is a unique electricity in the hall here for this one

from TPM (Igor Bobic): http://livewire.talkingpointsmemo.com/entry/obama-settler-violence-against-palestinians-shouldnt-go-unpunished

President Barack Obama touted America's unconditional support for Israel in a speech on Thursday, but he also asked the Israeli people to consider the rights of Palestinians who are also often the target of violence.

"Put yourself in their shoes – look at the world through their eyes," Obama said in Jerusalem. "It is not fair that a Palestinian child cannot grow up in a state of her own, and lives with the presence of a foreign army that controls the movements of her parents every single day. It is not just when settler violence against Palestinians goes unpunished. It is not right to prevent Palestinians from farming their lands; to restrict a student’s ability to move around the West Bank; or to displace Palestinian families from their home. Neither occupation nor expulsion is the answer. Just as Israelis built a state in their homeland, Palestinians have a right to be a free people in their own land."

Zeke Miller ‏@ZekeJMiller 5m
RT @JeffreyGoldberg: This is a blunt speech that is going well, right over Netanyahu's head, directly to the people.


Bradley Burston ‏@bradleyburston 39m
Obama in Israel: Obama, making connections between Passover, the African American experience and his own background, has crowd in his thrall.


Talking Points Memo ‏@TPM 24m
FULL SPEECH: Text of Obama's address to the Israeli people http://bit.ly/Z2rlRd


Department of State ‏@StateDept 10m
President Obama addresses Israeli students in Jerusalem. http://goo.gl/bkkCX via @usembassyta

[geek tragedy]

1. Maybe there was a time when this kind of speech would have mattered.

But, it's nothing the Israelis haven't heard before, and it will just make them think Obama is anti-Israel. That's been the standard response whenever someone goes out and suggest they've mistreated the Palestinians. Bibi's poll standing goes up every time he gives Obama the finger.

If they really gave a fuck about what's fair to the Palestinians, they would maybe take ending the occupation as something worthy of consideration instead of "yeah, we'll get around to that in a generation or five."

[bigtree]

2. sounds like typical underestimation of this President

. . . and his ability to influence. Come to think of it, it sounds like the news reports on both sides which are designed to deflate any expectation or reality of Barack Obama's ability to persuade. I more agree with the observation that this trip is more about influencing the Israeli people than it is the pols or the officials.

I really don't think you can read the entire speech and credibly conclude that it's 'anti-Israel.' People will have their opinions, tho . . .

[geek tragedy]

5. He's been tilting at this windmill for years now.

And every time the result has been the same, the Israelis get indignant, the Palestinians get cynical and dismissive, Bibi gets more popular at home, and Obama gets humiliated.

Remember that settlement freeze he fought so hard for years ago?

His I/P policy has exactly zero accomplishments.

It's good politics in Israel to "stand up to Obama."

[bigtree]

8. can't be good for 'Bibi'

. . . politically, to be seen actually getting along with this nemesis he's postured at odds with, at seemingly every turn.


from TPM:

President Obama appealed to a young Israeli audience on Thursday with a reference to the nation's most popular sketch comedy show, which often parodies US-Israel relations.

"Any drama between me and my friend Bibi over the years was just a plot to create material for Eretz Nehederet," Obama said to laughter and applause.


Obama and Netanyahu show unusual solidarity
http://www.washingtonpost.com/world/obama-arrives-in-israel-for-three-day-visit/2013/03/20/a01774aa-914f-11e2-9abd-e4c5c9dc5e90_story.html


President Obama extended a "special thanks" to Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu's wife Sarah and his two sons, whom Obama said are "very good looking young men who clearly got their looks from their mother." Netanyahu laughed, ready with a rejoinder.

[geek tragedy]

9. Sure. Obama gives Bibi everything he wants, and Bibi smiles

while Obama makes a speech that will have zero effect on anything.

Obama gets to pretend to be doing something about I/P, and Bibi gets the outcome he wants.

The real reason Bibi is kissing up isn't Palestine, it's bombing Iran and getting Obama to approve it.

[bigtree]

10. I'm not sure why I should be concerned about giving Israel what they want

. . . understanding that they are a major ally of the U.S. in the region and in the world.

As for bombing Iran, the President has effectively stood up to Netanyahu, so far, in resisting an Israeli attack on nuclear facilities. If anything, this trip is about advancing the president's prerogatives, more than it's some acquiescence to the Israeli prime minister.

It's a bit outside of anything apparent in their relationship over the past term to suggest that Mr. Obama feels some pressing need to appease the political class in Israel, this being his first visit to the country as president.

[geek tragedy]

11. By 'what they want' I mean no actions taken to

incentivize a settlment with the Palestinians. The current consensus in Israel is that it's a backburner issue, and so long as the US provides full diplomatic cover as well as money and arms, they really don't have to worry about what Obama says about the Palestinians. Obama can talk all he wants, but he won't do anything about it.

Not because he needs to appease the Israeli political class, but rather because he needs to appease the US political class, which treats unconditional support of Israel as a moral obligation.

[bigtree]

12. I think that support is a normal reaction to an ally

. . . and it does shift according to events.


Latest NBC/WSJ poll shows American sympathies with Israel at lowest point since 1989

February 27, 2013

The Lebanon war in 2006 provides further evidence that the American public does not favor supporting Israel unconditionally. Polls at the time showed that U.S. opinion was sharply divided about Israel’s actions during that war. Two separate polls found that 46 percent of Americans held Hezbollah and Israel equally responsible for starting the conflict and a USA Today/Gallup poll found that 65 percent thought the that United States should take neither side in the conflict – which again is contrary to the idea of a special relationship . . .

read: http://mondoweiss.net/2013/02/american-sympathies-israel.html


. . . of course, you're really talking about how the politicians react.

I still maintain you have to strain to find 'appeasement' on Israel from President Obama. You may have to accept that many of his own positions toward Israel are his own and heartfelt, to agree.

[geek tragedy]

13. Our political class is much more dedicated to Israel than

the voters are. In Congress, the number of "favor Israel" is around 85%.

Note that 69% of Americans think the Israelis and Palestinians are incapable of resolving their differences in that poll.

The most encouraging take I've seen on the speech is that it masks a US policy of withdrawing from the MidEast and letting them sort their own problems out.

[WilliamPitt]

4. "the Israelis"

You mean each and every single one of them thinks exactly the same about this?

Rilly?

[geek tragedy]

6. Israel and Pakistan were the only countries rooting for Romney.

http://thehill.com/blogs/global-affairs/middle-east-north-africa/264609-romney-polls-far-ahead-of-obama-in-israel

Israelis prefer Mitt Romney over President Obama by a wide margin, according to the latest polling from the Israel Democracy Institute and Tel Aviv University.


The Republican candidate leads Obama 57 percent to 22 percent, the organizations' Peace Index for October found in its October survey.

http://www.huffingtonpost.com/2012/11/04/us-election-international-poll_n_2066972.html

According to a 21-nation poll conducted by GlobeScan/PIPA for the BBC World Service, an average of 50 percent of people surveyed abroad favor Obama. Only 9 percent of those polled prefer Romney, and in 20 out of 21 countries voters would chose Obama

http://www.scribd.com/doc/105943470/UPI-CVoter-Global-Poll-9-11

Globally, among those who choose one of the two candidates, 81% would choose Obama and 19% would choose Romney. ... On the other hand, Romney received clear preference over Obama among Israeli citizens.

[jbnow]

19. This speech went over so well, applause got stronger

and stronger as speech went on. This was mostly students but every time he said something about the Palestinians rights or state he got wild applause
He was so complimentary to Israel... before he talked about seeing it through their eyes he talked about the rights and needs and issue of Israelis. It was in no way a lecture or disrespectful

He talked about why peace mattered and why it was possible.

It has been a good trip. Some Jerusalem newspaper article headline was "Obama, he had us at 'Shalom'"
Expectations for this trip were very low but he has seemed very comfortable and pitch perfect...

[bigtree]

21. +

[Scuba]

3. If there's one man on earth who might pull that off, it's Barack Obama.

[karynnj]

7. Fantastic speech

As to peace, the Israelis and Palestinians must want it enough to take risks for it. Neither side is winning from sticking in the status quo.

[stevenleser]

14. If Labor had won either of the last two elections, we would have a Palestinian state now and Peace

between the two states.

[bigtree]

16. that's some of the thinking behind the way they organized this trip around the Israeli public

. . . to try and influence Israeli politics.


@NSCPress ‏@NSCPress 9h

POTUS and @PresidentPeres in a bilateral meeting at Peres' residence.


pic.twitter.com/rybSYaSY0w

[frazzled]

15. I am so pleased to have read this speech

So thanks for posting the link.

I am startled by its comprehensive reach and its many messages, by its sweeping embrace of history and values, by its fairness to all sides and for its vision. I only hope that many people, left and right, Arab and Israeli, read it, and think. It truly is for the young people to decide the future there, because the old ways of thinking are old and obsolete, and will never lead to peace or security for either side.

[bigtree]

17. kick

[bigtree]

18. Obama quotes Rabbis

tweeted by, Edward-Isaac Dovere ‏@IsaacDovere 24m

Obama quotes Rabbis Abraham Joshua Heschel and Joachim Prince on existence, redemption, peace, hope and responsibility

[politicasista]

20. Kick

Last edited Thu Mar 21, 2013, 05:07 PM - Edit history (1)

[bigtree]

23. update: video

[moondust]

24. He's getting pretty good

at taking it directly to the people.

[bigtree]

25. it's his thing

. . . does what he wants to do.

[DeSwiss]

26. K&R n/t