He has to show them, chapter and verse, that they would have more to lose than gain by holding on to the ideal of the Greater Israel. When it comes to these folks, Obama will have to roll up his sleeves and get to work. Bibi’s intrigue, evasion, time-wasting, reneging on promises, doublespeak and contradictory messages are all deemed important assets by those Israelis who don’t believe in a two-state solution west of the Jordan River. This other half of Israel sees Benjamin Netanyahu as the bearer of good news. These are empty slogans that are dashed time and again in the face of the waves of Islamic zealousness crashing on the shores of this besieged country. In their opinion, this is hollow charm that doesn’t hold water in the Middle East. These people don’t buy into Obama’s charm. He needs to sway people like HaBayit HaYehudi Chairman Naftali Bennett, who claims that there’s no occupation, because a people cannot be an occupier in its historic homeland. The more daunting task - convincing the opponents and zealots - still lies ahead. To put it in American terms, Obama won the Democratic Party’s presidential nomination. This was the Israel that no longer really believes in peace, yet yearns for it and is willing to make serious sacrifices to make it happen. Obama was preaching mainly to the converted - the Israelis that are close to his heart, and who in the last elections rose up to pull a red flag on Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu. There’s a less optimistic way of looking at Obama’s address in Jerusalem, one that focuses on the half-empty glass. This was a late beginning of a wonderful friendship. Obama knew to push all the right buttons, although he did not spare the audience his criticism. It seemed like a welcome for a lost son returning home. To use American terms, Barack Obama addressed a Democratic Party caucus in Boston. The American embassy handpicked a liberal, sane and Western audience for the president’s address. Only a handful of ultra-Orthodox, observant Zionists or right-wing ideologists could be seen in the audience.
Obama opted for Jerusalem but brought Tel Aviv over. Here, on the Al-Monitor website, we had called on Obama to visit Tel Aviv, where the genuine, original, liberal, and sane Israel can be found the democratic Israel. Those were not Jerusalemites at the Israel Convention Center they were Tel Avivians. Last Thursday, he gave a talk in Jerusalem but conquered Tel Aviv.
This man seems to be pushing some secret button to create a buzz and admiration among his listeners, no matter where on the globe he delivers a speech. Although reading from a teleprompter, getting his material from painstaking research by the embassy staff and intelligence agencies, and relying on the great means that are available to the president of a superpower, when all is said and done, it’s him - Obama. They saw him giving them, but chiefly their prime minister, a cold shoulder, relegating them to the bottom of his priorities.
For four long, tortuous years, they had been waiting for him, watching helplessly as he gave most of his attention to the Arab world around them. President Barack Obama did his shtick in Jerusalem, and it worked.Īs was to be expected, the American president’s magic touch electrified Israelis, too.
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