Obama on Israel

In my humble opinion, the speech the President gave jut prior to the visit from the Israeli Prime Minister in which he outlined America's Middle East Policy was seriously flawed. There were numerous points where his opinions where, to put it nicely, naive. His ideas about the peace process between the Palestinians and the Israelis are actually dangerous. Any peace that does not insist on Hamas recognizing Israels right to exist and which requires Israel to return to the 1967 borders simply will not work and will never be accepted by the Israelis (and for good reason).

These facts became clear very quickly as a result of a surprisingly loud response from both the public and the media. The President then sought to "clarify" his policy goals. This met with some success but it still remains a point of unease in US-Israeli relations. It will also give the Republicans room to point to what appears to be some "back peddling" by the President on this issue.

It is interesting to note how much the Presidents views on the peace process have changed in the past 3 years. Here is a clip from a speech he gave in 2008 where what he said was quite different from what he is apparently saying now.....See what you think.

Live Long and Prosper....