On Israel, Obama (Finally) Says the Right Words
In my column for The Week, I report that Obama's speech at the UN finally showed that he fully supports Israel:
President Obama's speech to the UN today for once eschewed ambiguity.
America’s commitment to Israel’s security is unshakeable, and our friendship with Israel is deep and enduring. And so we believe that any lasting peace must acknowledge the very real security concerns that Israel faces every single day. Let’s be honest: Israel is surrounded by neighbors that have waged repeated wars against it. Israel’s citizens have been killed by rockets fired at their houses and suicide bombs on their buses. Israel’s children come of age knowing that throughout the region, other children are taught to hate them. Israel, a small country of less than eight million people, looks out at a world where leaders of much larger nations threaten to wipe it off of the map. The Jewish people carry the burden of centuries of exile, persecution, and the fresh memory of knowing that six million people were killed simply because of who they were.
These words powerfully articulate the way Israelis feel and the way Israel's friends feel. It's pointless to talk about borders before Israelis know what kind of society they will face on the other side of those borders. It's beyond pointless to ask them to make peace with a political entity, the Palestinian Authority, unless that entity has the power to deliver peace.
One of the lurking disagreements about Israel within American politics has long been the question: who really is the underdog in this fight? Israel's detractors see a regional superpower, aggressively subjugating weaker peoples. Israel's friends see a surrounded and outnumbered nation, whose right to exist is denied by one-third the planet - and whose actions are systematically misrepresented in the most murderous language from Kuala Lampur to London England.
Which perception is held by this president of the United States? Until now, the answer was always maddeningly elusive. At the UN today, the president at last took a side. The right side.
Click here to read the full column.
