In the spirit of my favorite magazine, the New Yorker, I decided to give this article a ridiculous, satirical title to portray how ludicrous ignorant smear campaigns can be. For those of you who do not know what I am referring to, the latest New Yorker magazine cover beheld Barack Obama wearing full Arab garb, pounding fists with his wife, who is dressed like a black panther-esque terrorist. On the wall hangs a picture of Osama bin Laden, and an American flag burns in the fireplace. To top it all off, all of this is taking place in the Oval Office. (To see it for yourself go to http://www.stuff.co.nz/images/738865.jpg) The New Yorker claimed it was a satire of smear campaigns. But it kind of backfired on them. You see, 99.99% of Americans do not read the New Yorker. So when they went to the newsstands to pick up a paper or a Sports Illustrated, they glanced at this cover and thought, “Oh. Obama equals Arab.” and went about their day. An aside, there is no country Palestine nor has their ever been one under sovereign rulership. We can only pray that there never will be one.
Barack Obama came to Israel Tuesday, acting as though he was already president. In a thirty-six hour visit strongly reminiscent of Republican candidate John McCain’s trip to Israel, he visited Sderot, Ramallah, Yad Vashem, and the Kotel (Western Wall). The gesture he made by going to Sderot is very meaningful. Due to the fact that Hamas is busy rearming itself to the teeth under a so-called “ceasefire,” the danger of him going there was much less then when McCain was there last March. However, that was not his fault and the gesture was appreciated nonetheless. I also admire that he had the courage to go to the Kotel, which Bush did not.
Originally, Obama planned to come to the Kotel at 10 PM. However, he pushed it off until five the next morning. Was he tired? Perhaps. Or maybe he wanted his visit to Judaism’s holiest site to be broadcast live on prime time news in America, as opposed to the early afternoon slot it would have been. Meaningful gesture or media stunt to win over Jewish voters? You can decide for yourself.
Sharp shooters manned a perimeter around the Kotel plaza, as they always do when there is a big event or a famous person coming to visit. Obama’s motorcade of flashy black SUV’s and limousines drove in, and the tall, young, possible future president of the United States stepped out. The truth is that few people were there to see him. His main supporters had shown up the night before, with big signs saying “Barack Obama” in Hebrew letters and “Jews for Obama.” However, these people had left disappointed six hours earlier and did not return.
As he stepped out his car, he want along a fence to shake some hands. If he was trying to spot out the Americans, he did a rather lousy job. Most of the people’s hands he shook were actually Australian. I certainly hope he wins the Australian vote in the upcoming election. Once he began nearing me, he had already stopped shaking hands. So I said to him what I would say to any current or possible future world leader. “Mr. Obama, please don’t give Israel away. It’s the only thing we have.” He chose to ignore me. His five minute prayer at the Kotel involved him being heckled by Israelis and blinded by flashbulbs-not exactly the most spiritual experience. On his way back, I extended my hand again. “Mr. Obama, I’m an American voter. Please shake my hand.” Again, he ignored me. So I said, “Please don’t give away Jerusalem,” as he continued back to his vehicle.
Why would I say these things? Have I been brainwashed by narrow minded warmongering right-wing Orthodox Jews? Maybe. Or maybe I went on his website and looked at his policies. On the “Israel Fact Sheet” it states, “Barack Obama believes in working towards a two-state solution, with both states living side by side in peace and security.” It’s a nice idea, and I believe it is possible. If the current state of Israel becomes the “Palestinian” state and the Mediterranean Sea becomes the Jewish state, I don’t see any reason why we shouldn’t be able to live side by side in peace and security. But anything short of that is a fantasy. The establishment of a “Palestinian” state will put me within eyeshot of an Arab terrorist state. I hope to elaborate in full on the practical reasons why that is so in a future article.
There was also the AIPAC fiasco. On June 4, before the American Israel Public Affairs Committee, he declared “…any agreement with the Palestinian people must preserve Israel’s identity as a Jewish state with secure, recognized, defensible borders. And Jerusalem will remain the capital of Israel and it must remain undivided.” The next day, after PA leader Abbas strongly condemned him, a campaign adviser “clarified” his statements. “Jerusalem is a final status issue, which means it has to be negotiated between the two parties” as part of “an agreement that they both can live with. Two principles should apply to any outcome,” which the adviser gave as: “Jerusalem remains Israel’s capital and it’s not going to be divided by barbed wire and checkpoints as it was in 1948-1967.” This month Obama again “elaborated” on his comment on CNN, “You know, the truth is that this was an example where we had some poor phrasing in the speech. And we immediately tried to correct the interpretation that was given. The point we were simply making was, is that we don’t want barbed wire running through Jerusalem, similar to the way it was prior to the ‘67 war, that it is possible for us to create a Jerusalem that is cohesive and coherent.”
If this man plans on being a world leader, he needs to say what he means. If he says one thing to the Jews and then changes it as soon as he faces “Palestinian” criticism, it makes me seriously doubt his integrity. If he wants to be president, he needs to stick by what he says. Obama must stop trying to please everyone on every side of the argument and take a firm stance. The creation of a “Palestinian” state is a concession that puts Israel’s security at grave risk. Until Obama retracts his support for it, I won’t be voting for him. And neither should you.
With Love from the Holy Land,
Elisha
2 Comments
March 4, 2009 at 4:03 am
Spot on assessment, Elisha. No two-state solution. That’s ridiculous.
Mike
March 4, 2009 at 4:13 am
You might the first American that wasn’t an Orthodox Jew that I ever heard say that.