Arab response to Obama's flaws

Today: September 3, 2010

Arab response to Obama's flaws

Tag: Israeli Politics

Posted: Tue 9th June 2009 3.19 PM | Author: David Soakell

President Obama said in his Cairo speech to the Muslim world that, "next to Al Qaeda, Israel is the biggest source of tension between the United States and the Muslims". Obama referred to Jewish persecution and specifically the Holocaust as the main reason for the existence of the state of Israel, omitting to mention any historical or religious rights of the Jewish people to the land of Israel. This is a major problem in the Middle East, one which Obama failed to even bring up! To this day the Arab Muslim world has never accepted a Jewish state in their midst because it goes against the teachings of Islam. This is the fundamental problem that has existed from day one, and that Obama chose to ignore.  

How did the Arab world respond to this speech? Well, the Palestinian Authority said it considered Obama's speech in Cairo "a new and different American beginning and a new message to the Israelis," while Hamas said the remarks contained a number of good points. PA presidential spokesperson Nabil Abu Rudeinah said in a statement that "President Obama's readiness for partnership, listening, building confidence and confronting tension ought to be celebrated", and applauded the US leader's remarks on Palestinian suffering. He added, "The time has come to establish a Palestinian state," which he called "the first basic step necessary to build a just and comprehensive peace in the region." Saeb Erekat, Head of the PLO Negotiations Affairs Department said, "This was a very important speech, in which President Obama reinforced the message that ending the occupation and establishing a viable and independent Palestinian state was in the mutual interest of Palestinians, Israelis and indeed the entire world. Progress towards peace hinges on both parties implementing their obligations under existing agreements." 

Obama's Blunder

Meanwhile, before President Obama had travelled to the Middle East to deliver his promised speech to the Muslim world, he made a rather strange blunder in an interview with a French TV station. Obama stated, "…One of the points I want to make is, that if you actually took the number of Muslim Americans, we'd be one of the largest Muslim countries in the world." This statement of course is completely false on three grounds, 1) the United States is not a Muslim country, 2) the Muslim population in America is, as far as numbers are concerned, only the 25th largest in the world, and 3) percentage wise the Muslim population in America (less than 2%) is rather one of the smallest in the world. So whom is he trying to impress?

Foregin Funding 

In reality meanwhile, the true picture of the Middle East problem reared its ugly head once again over the weekend. Palestinian Media Watch has documented the repeated use of foreign funding by both the PA and Hamas for terror and glorification of terror. The following is another case of well intended humanitarian assistance given to Palestinians that is appropriated for military or terror purposes: "Hamas militias have raided 46 ambulances, donated by Arab states, of the medical equipment that they contained... and used them as military vehicles to arrest civilians, after painting the ambulances black. The Ministry's director of public relations and information, Dr. Omar Nasr said that the medical equipment removed from the ambulances was expensive. He demanded that the Hamas militias declare, courageously and openly, what had become of the thousands of tons of medical equipment which had been brought into the Gaza Strip as assistance for the Palestinian people, and which had passed at Hamas's orders to private warehouses and its own medical centres, and was later sold to the helpless citizen..." Al-Hayat Al-Jadida, May 20, 2009

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