Obama Drops Key Clause in Jerusalem Embassy Memo
Important Docu-Drop Friday evening… To avoid the news cycles (If this wasn’t a big deal then why release this so late on a Friday when nobody watches news on the weekends?):
Late on Friday The Washington Times’ Christian Bourge obtained a copy of Presidential Determination 2009-19, latest in a series of pro forma memos to the Secretary of State entitled “Suspension of Limitations Under the Jerusalem Embassy Act.” This determination is a legally required waiver under said act to continue to delay the May 31, 1999 deadline for moving the U.S. Embassy in Israel from Tel Aviv to Jerusalem.
Nearly identical memos like this have been issued every six months for the last decade. Standard procedure, no big deal, right? Well in the Bush years the memo contained the sentence,
“My Administration remains committed to beginning the process of moving our embassy to Jerusalem.”
The Obama team has edited that passage out. This explains the Friday evening release. Congress should revisit the Jerusalem Embassy Act and remove the loophole that has allowed this charade to continue for ten years. Meanwhile the president should explain exactly what his policy is on this issue, and why he is not committed to beginning the process of moving the embassy.
This particular memo is common place among administrations, however, the above reference paragraph, has never been omitted by any other president in history.
Blame America Tour Hits Cairo, Egypt
Obama gave a 6,000 word speech today in Cairo in which he continued to lay blame on America and pander to the Muslim world. Obama seems to think that the rest of the world poops out muffins and dumplings and everything is A-OK! Hey! Obama even grew a little mustache for the event to show the Muslim world just how much he loved them!
Some excerpts from his recent speech:
The entire speech found here.
We meet at a time of tension between the United States and Muslims around the world — tension rooted in historical forces that go beyond any current policy debate. The relationship between Islam and the West includes centuries of co-existence and cooperation, but also conflict and religious wars. More recently, tension has been fed by colonialism that denied rights and opportunities to many Muslims, and a Cold War in which Muslim-majority countries were too often treated as proxies without regard to their own aspirations. Moreover, the sweeping change brought by modernity and globalization led many Muslims to view the West as hostile to the traditions of Islam.
Here is where the blame America tour begins – it was our fault – we instigated it all – although Muslims and Islam have been around much longer than the United States… but of course the cold war started everything/sarc.
Violent extremists have exploited these tensions in a small but potent minority of Muslims. The attacks of September 11th, 2001 and the continued efforts of these extremists to engage in violence against civilians has led some in my country to view Islam as inevitably hostile not only to America and Western countries, but also to human rights. This has bred more fear and mistrust.
That “minority” seems to be growing – shucks, we even have our own home-grown terrorists now, one of which just recently killed a recruiting officer who was only 23 years old, this week in Arkansas.
How about the recent beheading of Ed Dryer, a British gentleman in Africa who was kidnapped by Al-Qaeda at a music festival. The minority is growing Obama – it’s time you wake up!
I have come here to seek a new beginning between the United States and Muslims around the world; one based upon mutual interest and mutual respect; and one based upon the truth that America and Islam are not exclusive, and need not be in competition. Instead, they overlap, and share common principles — principles of justice and progress; tolerance and the dignity of all human beings.
Tolerance and dignity of all human beings (let me finish the sentence) except for WOMEN! what tolerance has the Muslim world shown women who are made to cover their faces/hair and wear burkas? What tolerance does Saudi Arabia show women who are not allowed to make eye contact or drive cars? What tolerance did Afghanistan show when flogging a woman recently? What tolerance was shown by the Saudis who tried to enforce a teenage girl to marry a man over 50 years old? His entire statement, comparing the West to the Islamic culture is insane and irrational!
I do so recognizing that change cannot happen overnight. No single speech can eradicate years of mistrust, nor can I answer in the time that I have all the complex questions that brought us to this point. But I am convinced that in order to move forward, we must say openly the things we hold in our hearts, and that too often are said only behind closed doors. There must be a sustained effort to listen to each other; to learn from each other; to respect one another; and to seek common ground. As the Holy Koran tells us, “Be conscious of God and speak always the truth.” That is what I will try to do — to speak the truth as best I can, humbled by the task before us, and firm in my belief that the interests we share as human beings are far more powerful than the forces that drive us apart.
I’m glad that he can freely quote the Koran but must avoid prayer day, going to church, exclaiming we are a Judeo-christian nation, and reading quotes from the bible – in order to not deeply offend the Muslims – this man has no dignity, principles, or character – he’s a chameleon.
As a student of history, I also know civilization’s debt to Islam. It was Islam — at places like Al-AzharUniversity — that carried the light of learning through so many centuries, paving the way for Europe’s Renaissance and Enlightenment. It was innovation in Muslim communities that developed the order of algebra; our magnetic compass and tools of navigation; our mastery of pens and printing; our understanding of how disease spreads and how it can be healed. Islamic culture has given us majestic arches and soaring spires; timeless poetry and cherished music; elegant calligraphy and places of peaceful contemplation. And throughout history, Islam has demonstrated through words and deeds the possibilities of religious tolerance and racial equality.
I thought he was a law student? Not a student of history and from his statement it seems to me he didn’t do all that well in history. I’m sure the Europeans were ecstatic that the Muslims came through torturing and murdering women and children during the crusades to influence their land. I lived in Spain and actually visited Andalucia (Andalusia in English) – spending a whole day in Granada and wandering through Alhambra and learning about it and how it came to be. There is a ton of Muslim architecture in Southern Spain and believe me – it is not forgotten what occurred when they came through… I’m sure the Spanish were incredibly grateful and feel in-debted to Islam when they learned how to make candle stick holders out of baby skulls. And just to be fair here – I also visited the torture museum in Spain which showed all the utensils used during the Inquisition – that was inappropriate as well but for years religions and cultures have instigated one another. (I would also like to add that after visiting the torture museum waterboarding does not bother me in the least – it’s like eating tea and crumpets compared to what used to be done to people).
Much has been made of the fact that an African-American with the name Barack Hussein Obama could be elected President. But my personal story is not so unique. The dream of opportunity for all people has not come true for everyone in America, but its promise exists for all who come to our shores — that includes nearly seven million American Muslims in our country today who enjoy incomes and education that are higher than average.
This is where he talks about himself… AGAIN and then falsely claims that the American Dream can be reached by average citizens, however, he forgets to tell them that he has recently made that Dream much harder to realize with his interventionist/totalitarian policies.
In Ankara, I made clear that America is not — and never will be — at war with Islam. We will, however, relentlessly confront violent extremists who pose a grave threat to our security. Because we reject the same thing that people of all faiths reject: the killing of innocent men, women, and children. And it is my first duty as President to protect the American people.
What!? is that why our military has been deployed over in Iraq and more so in Afghanistan now? CAN-NOT-COMPUTE…
We also know that military power alone is not going to solve the problems in Afghanistan and Pakistan. That is why we plan to invest $1.5 billion each year over the next five years to partner with Pakistanis to build schools and hospitals, roads and businesses, and hundreds of millions to help those who have been displaced. And that is why we are providing more than $2.8 billion to help Afghans develop their economy and deliver services that people depend upon.
But, but, but I thought our country was broke Barack? That’s what you just said in your interview a couple weeks ago before your 24K+ date with Michelle Mabelle. Our country is in fact broke as evidenced by the laughing stock that Geithner was in China when he said that the U.S. was a reliable investment.
That is why we will honor our agreement with Iraq’s democratically-elected government to remove combat troops from Iraqi cities by July, and to remove all our troops from Iraq by 2012.
BWHAHAHA – anyone notice how his timeline keeps going out longer and longer? Cries from all the peacenik liberals? in 3…2…1 j/k
I know there has been controversy about the promotion of democracy in recent years, and much of this controversy is connected to the war in Iraq. So let me be clear: no system of government can or should be imposed upon one nation by any other.
I don’t think that’s what the Muslims wanted to hear and certainly not the Islamofascists who want to enforce Sharia Law onto any and all countries.
This last point is important because there are some who advocate for democracy only when they are out of power; once in power, they are ruthless in suppressing the rights of others. No matter where it takes hold, government of the people and by the people sets a single standard for all who hold power: you must maintain your power through consent, not coercion; you must respect the rights of minorities, and participate with a spirit of tolerance and compromise; you must place the interests of your people and the legitimate workings of the political process above your party. Without these ingredients, elections alone do not make true democracy.
I’m sure Hosni Mubarak was very happy about Obama discussing democracy! Then again Obama did invite 10 Muslim Brotherhood members to his speech in Cairo today.
Read the excerpt on the Muslim Brotherhood.
Ed Morrissey has a more positive take and writes: “I don’t hear anything in this speech that Bush didn’t say himself.”
Er, that’s the problem. For all the hype about fresh starts and new beginnings, Obama embraces the same blind dhimmitude that plagued the Bush administration and foggy-headed bureaucrats that infect Foggy Bottom.
Same old, same old.
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NYPost’s Charles Hurt: Obama sure buttered them up in Cairo.
Andy McCarthy revisits Obama’s revisionism on the Founding Fathers and Islam.
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President Obama mentioned the “trauma” of the September 11 jihadi attacks in his speech. Here’s another reality check. Flashback, September 12, 2008, The Blame America poll and the Blame America candidate:
A poll released this week of more than 16,000 people in 17 nations revealed that “majorities in only nine countries believe al Qaeda was behind the attacks on New York and Washington that killed about 3,000 people in 2001.” A mere 46% of individuals overall said they believed al Qaeda executed the attacks – despite all the back-patting, fist-pumping video productions from AQ’s media arm, as-Sahab, claiming credit.
…Seven years after Mohammed Atta, Hani Hanjour, and their Allahu Akbar-screaming team succeeded in slaughtering nearly 3,000 innocent men, women, and children, large numbers of our putative allies in the civilized world are still blaming America and Israel.
“Israel was behind the attacks, said 43 percent of people in Egypt, 31 percent in Jordan and 19 percent in the Palestinian Territories,” the survey found. “The U.S. government was blamed by 36 percent of Turks and 27 percent of Palestinians.” The pollsters noted that no prompting was necessary: “These responses were given spontaneously to an open-ended question that did not offer response options.”
Among our great friends south of the border, Mexico boasted “the second-largest number citing the US government as the perpetrator of 9/11 (30%, after Turkey at 36%). Only 33 percent name al Qaeda.” Which, of course, is no shock to those who remember when the U.S. soccer team was taunted with chants of“Osama! Osama! Osama!” after a match in Guadalajara four years ago; or when the team was booed again in 2005 and plastic bags filled with urine were reportedly tossed on American players.
They hate us. They still really, really hate us. And it is not all about Iraq. As a Mexican soccer fan told the Christian Science Monitor: “‘Every schoolboy knows about 1848. . . . When they robbed our territory,’ referring to when Texas, California and New Mexico were annexed to the U.S. as part of a peace treaty ending the war between the two countries, ‘that was the beginning.’”
Not coincidentally, another world opinion poll was released this week that dovetails with the 9/11 survey. While the global community refuses to unite against al Qaeda as a common enemy to humanity, it has decided on who should be America’s next president. The BBC-commissioned poll named Barack Obama the world’s favorite candidate by an overwhelming margin of four to one. They see in their fellow “citizen of the world” a kindred spirit:
Someone whose former spiritual mentor shares the European elite’s “chickens coming home to roost” schadenfreude. Someone who has promoted the need for “empathy” toward the head-chopping jihadists. Someone who shares their fetishizing of terrorists as poor victims of imperialism in need more “understanding” and “education.” Someone who cynically hawks “Buy American” campaign stickers while courting the “Blame America” Left at home and abroad.
Obama is their man. Never forget.
Nor should we forget his avoidance of his Muslim heritage, which he now touts to the Muslim world as common ground and a valid reason to listen to him… Why was he so afraid of it before? So take for example some of his words and compare that to what was disclosed/said during his campaign and ask yourself, how many times can a man spin and lie before you no longer trust him? I know that I never trusted him after the Jeremiah Wright business – I have no respect for those who constantly throw people under the bus and omit facts or spin them.
As Barack Obama sends his message to the Muslim world, it’s fascinating to compare his statements, and those of his staff, with things he said during the presidential campaign. In his speech this morning, he said:
I am a Christian, but my father came from a Kenyan family that includes generations of Muslims. As a boy, I spent several years in Indonesia and heard the call of the azaanat the break of dawn and the fall of dusk. As a young man, I worked in Chicago communities where many found dignity and peace in their Muslim faith.
While the president was a little vague about his father’s religion, in a briefing before the speech, national security aide Denis McDonough was a bit more explicit:
I think the fact is, that the President himself experienced Islam on three continents before he was able to — or before he’s been able to visit, really, the heart of the Islamic world — you know, growing up in Indonesia, having a Muslim father — obviously Muslim Americans [are] a key part of Illinois and Chicago.
Contrast those statements to remarks Obama made to a Jewish organization in Cleveland in February 2008:
My grandfather, who was Kenyan, converted to Christianity, then converted to Islam. My father never practiced; he was basically agnostic. So, other than my name and the fact that I lived in a populous Muslim country for four years when I was a child, I have very little connection to the Islamic religion.
If we are to heed any recent statements maybe we should be forewarned by, of all people, Hugo Chavez who stated that if he and Fidel aren’t careful, they will actually be conservative/towards he right compared to Obama. Even those two didn’t move as fast nationalizing private industry as Barack Obama has!
The Israeli’s are super-excited about Obama’s policies and his pandering to the Muslim world. To show their excitement they have created posters!
Obama: “Iran Has a Right to Be Nuclear”
Well, there you have it folks – it’s settled. Not only is Obama expected to give a speech where he said he will reach out to the Muslim world, Thursday, in Cairo, Egypt, but he is also stating that Iran may have a right to nuclear power.
President Barack Obama suggested that Iran may have some right to nuclear energy _ provided it proves by the end of the year that its aspirations are peaceful.
In a BBC interview broadcast Tuesday, he also restated plans to pursue direct diplomacy with Tehran to encourage it set aside any ambitions for nuclear weapons it might harbor.
Iran has insisted its nuclear program is aimed at generating electricity. But the U.S. and other Western governments accuse Tehran of seeking atomic weapons.
“What I do believe is that Iran has legitimate energy concerns, legitimate aspirations,” Obama said, adding that the international community also “has a very real interest” in preventing a nuclear arms race.
The president has indicated a willingness to seek deeper international sanctions against Tehran if it does not respond positively to U.S. attempts to open negotiations on its nuclear program. Obama has said Tehran has until the end of the year to show it wants to engage with Washington.
“Although I don’t want to put artificial time tables on that process, we do want to make sure that, by the end of this year, we’ve actually seen a serious process move forward. And I think that we can measure whether or not the Iranians are serious,” Obama said.
Iran is now a friend and ally!?, never-mind Ahmadinejad’s incendiary remarks during the UN race summit or his previous statements about the West and Israel, they do mean well and really only want nukes for energy purposes. A third world country always wants to go right to nuclear energy not start with the basics./sarc!
President pantywaist sure is giving us change – sometimes I’m not sure if he is doing this on purpose or not but it sure is starting to look suspicious. I’m sure Obama’s scary, hollow rhetoric will really make those Iranian leaders shake in their boots!
I also noted above that Obama is reaching out to the Muslim world. I have to question why his administration continues to reach out to Muslims and not the Arab world. The Arab world is much greater and encompasses the entire region, whereas Muslims do make up a majority, they are not the only citizens living there. Israeli’s are still considered Arab and there are other individuals who do not technically classify themselves as Muslim. Please pay attention to his words. Obama stated that he does not want any further settlement in Israel and Netanyahu has fervently disagreed with such remarks and requests, while Obama tries to make amends (which I think are completely unnecessary for what the Muslim world has done not only to Israel, but to us, to Europe, etc.) with those trying to destroy the West.
So long to our one and only ally in the Middle East, Israel. I’m sure Netanyahu is taking notes as well as umbrage at Obama’s words and actions. He knows that the U.S. is no longer supporting Israel the way we used to. At some point this probably has to happen, but not when you have all these rogue countries acting up, one of which is Israel’s prime enemy, who has called for the extinction of Jews on multiple occasions.
A couple of other random notes/thoughts:
Iran can have “nuclear power” (so says Obama) but the United States when it comes to energy policy, cannot…
Iran needs nuclear power when it already sits on tons of oil?
Liberals are congenitally incapable of comprehending the fact that there are some people on this Earth who are unreasonable and with whom you cannot negotiate and reasonably expect to achieve anything but your own defeat. Barack Obama is the leader of this chronically naive cadre. He is incapable of comprehending the truth about people like Kim Jong Il and Ahmadinejad.
Liberals, or at least Democrats, will hopefully, one day face the fact that not everyone on this earth is good and decent. Human nature can be very dark at times – but it is only through that darkness that anybody truly knows light. It’s important and imperative to separate the two.
Israel; Obama’s Red-Headed Step Child
In the past couple of days, more has come to light with Obama’s stance, or lack there of, for support of Israel, compared to the rest of the Middle East and in particular, Iran and Palestine.
The Obama administration, namely Rahm Emanuel, also holds similar beliefs, which may strike some as odd, due to the fact that Rahm is Jewish. However, Rahm insisted on Monday that the only way to thwart Iran’s nuclear threat and resolve relations with the Middle East would come to fruition through Palestinian-Israeli talks.
Israeli TV stations had reported Monday night that Emanuel had actually linked the two matters, saying that the efforts to stop Iran hinged on peace talks with the Palestinians. The remarks were reportedly made in a closed-door meeting previous day with 300 major AIPAC donors on Sunday.
Last month, US Secretary of State Hillary Clinton warned Israel that it risks losing Arab support for combating threats from Iran if it rejects peace negotiations with the Palestinians.
Clinton said Arab nations had conditioned helping Israel counter Iran on Jerusalem’s commitment to the peace process.
Meanwhile, in an interview with the Jerusalem Post on Sunday, former US House speaker Newt Gingrich blasted the Obama administration for setting itself on a collision course with Israel and endangering the Jewish state.
He called US President Barack Obama’s program of engagement with Iran a “fantasy,” and his Middle East policies “very dangerous for Israel.” He summed up Obama’s approach as “the clearest adoption of weakness since Jimmy Carter.”
And Newt is right, we should have learned our lesson after Carter, but we didn’t. One could then argue that we should have learned it after Clinton tried this same peace treaty mumbo-jumbo between Palestine and Israel. (The Oslo Accord in 1993 and the Wye River Memorandum). Later we came to find out that Yasir Arafat spoke out of both sides of his mouth and eventually was caught speaking at PLO and Hamas engagements/rallies. (But by then he had already received the Nobel Peace Prize)
If liberals are so adamant about the United States staying out of the business of other nations (their biggest qualm for the last 8 years was Iraq and forcing democracy) then why is forcing a treaty, peace, or a recognized state on a nation ok?
What causes those that are so progressive to think that Iran and other nations, that have continuously ranted and raved about the Jews and Israel, would ever want peace? Middle Eastern history has a very large Nazi influence and therefore, they have called for the extermination of Jews, and the West. There is something seriously wrong with a situation in which people cannot call a spade a spade and see the threat that is in front of their very eyes.
Take for example the latest; Ahmadinejad went on another tirade about Israel yesterday:
Iranian President Mahmoud Ahmadinejad slammed Zionism as “occupation” and “aggression” Tuesday as he delivered his latest diatribe against the Jewish state on a visit to key Middle East ally Syria.
Zionism is merely the recognition of the Jewish state based on biblical times. The state of Israel was promised to the Jews before WWII and before others in the Middle East occupied the region. Israelis do not try to force themselves onto other nations by attempting to conquer the rest of the Middle East or enforce their religion on others – that’s the main difference and the reason why Ahmadinejad cannot be taken seriously.
“The Zionist occupiers are destructive microbes, because Zionism itself is occupation, aggression, the use of assassination and annihilation,” he told a joint news conference with President Bashar al-Assad in the Syrian capital.
“Zionism was created to threaten us. To support the Palestinian resistance is a humanitarian and popular obligation,” Ahmadinejad said in remarks in Farsi that were translated into Arabic.
“Syria and Iran are united in supporting the Palestinian resistance.”
The Iranian president’s comments came barely two weeks after he sparked a European walkout from a UN anti-racism conference in Geneva by equating Zionism with racism.
This intolerance does not help the cause in the Middle East and it only raises more eyebrows from the majority of the public who do not define themselves as progressive or liberal. This is not the way to show you are ready for peace. Even if some peace accord was met, it would be hard for me to believe that Iran and others would not continue to hold their “thousand” year grudge against Israel and have the same anti-Semitic sentiments.
Ahmadinejad asked why it was the Islamist Hamas movement which controls Gaza that is blacklisted by the European Union and the United States, and not Israel after its devastating offensive against the territory at the turn of the year.
“They’ve attacked Gaza, killing people in their own land and massacring women and children… and yet it’s the Palestinians they accuse of terrorism,” he complained.
Maybe because Israel didn’t initiate attacks? Maybe they retaliated in a more powerful way to stop the thousands of missiles from entering their country and endangering their citizens? Hamas sent over 3,000 missiles into Israeli airspace over the course of last year.
Israelis have also evacuated the Gaza strip and it is Palestinians that use their own for propaganda purposes reporting deaths in the region and accuse Israelis of those crimes. The main difference between Hamas and the Palestinians and the Israelis is that Israelis do not use women and children as shields, they use themselves to shield their women and children – I respect that more than the prior.
The United States “has put pressure on Syria and Iran, but it needs us and wants to develop relations,” he said.
The scariest statement by Ahmadinejad is the following:
“Circumstances are changing rapidly in our favour. We are on the road to victory.”
That should give you the chills!
The appeasement and call for universal nuclear disarmament is another alarming policy change on the horizon. This step to disarm would include Israel’s nukes, which would cause an inevitable disaster, leaving Israel completely vulnerable to any and all attacks on their soil by countries like Iran who are not a party to the United Nations or any other international treaties.
President Obama’s efforts to curb the spread of nuclear weapons threaten to expose and derail a 40-year-old secret U.S. agreement to shield Israel’s nuclear weapons from international scrutiny, former and current U.S. and Israeli officials and nuclear specialists say.
The issue will likely come to a head when Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu meets with Mr. Obama on May 18 in Washington. Mr. Netanyahu is expected to seek assurances from Mr. Obama that he will uphold the U.S. commitment and will not trade Israeli nuclear concessions for Iranian ones.
Assistant Secretary of State Rose Gottemoeller, speaking Tuesday at a U.N. meeting on the nuclear Non-Proliferation Treaty (NPT), said Israel should join the treaty, which would require Israel to declare and relinquish its nuclear arsenal.
“Universaladherence to the NPT itself, including by India, Israel, Pakistan and North Korea, … remains a fundamental objective of the United States,” Ms. Gottemoeller told the meeting, according to Reuters.
She declined to say, however, whether the Obama administration would press Israel to join the treaty.
A senior White House official said the administration considered the nuclear programs of Israel and Iran to be unrelated “apples and oranges.”
Apples and oranges? The weapons programs may be different as far as quality and caliber, but if you continue to let Iran build up its nuclear facilities, centrifuges, and uranium/plutonium supplies, it will be sure to catch up – especially whilst Israel is vulnerable and doesn’t have the weaponry to defend itself anymore.
AIPAC, the strongest pro-Israeli lobby in the nation and on Capitol Hill, is on the case and working to fight the urgent push from the Obama administration to create a Palestinian state.
US congressional leaders and the most powerful pro-Israel lobby group in the US are attempting to forestall a significant shift in the White House’s Middle East policy.
The move comes amid growing signs that the US president, Barack Obama, intends to press for urgent efforts to be made towards the creation of a Palestinian state.
The Israeli prime minister, Binyamin Netanyahu, is visiting Washington later this month amid growing expectations that Obama is preparing to take a tougher line over Israel’s reluctance to actively seek a two-state solution to its conflict with the Palestinians.
It will be the first time that Netanyahu and Obama have met since both were elected.
The American Israel Public Affairs Committee (Aipac) this week sent hundreds of lobbyists to urge members of Congress to sign a letter to Obama.
The letter, written by two House of Representatives leaders, calls for Israel to be allowed to set the pace of negotiations.
I would agree, that the pace of negotiations for an international issue be set by the countries involved, not the United States.
Maybe the issue here is that too many progressives have gotten the jihad hip-hop bug. I hear it’s hard to ignore!/sarc.
New Poll: 66% of Israeli’s Would Support Iran Strike and 75% Would Support it Even if Obama Doesn’t
Iran stated today that it could strike Israel in 11 days. So my question becomes, should a country sit there and wait for an attack like a sitting duck when violent and suspicious announcements like that are made? I don’t think so. If it came between “diplomacy” and saving my family and friends, I would certainly pick the latter.
A vast majority (66%) of Israelis said they would support military action if diplomatic and economic efforts failed to get Iran to stop uranium enrichment, and of that number, 75% would support this action even if the Obama administration were opposed, according to a survey jointly commissioned by Bar-Ilan University’s BESA center and the ADL, published on Sunday.
Regarding the US president, most respondents have an overall favorable opinion of Barack Obama, but are skeptical about his Middle East policies; while 60 percent said they had either a “somewhat favorable” or “very favorable” opinion of Obama, and 14% said their attitude toward him was unfavorable, only 32% of the respondents said they approved of Obama’s policies toward Israel, and 21% said they disapproved.
Fully 47%, however, had no answer regarding those policies, an indication that people were still forming an opinion.
Bar-Ilan University’s Eytan Gilboa, a professor of international communications who directed the poll along with BESA director Efraim Inbar, said Israelis were making a distinction between Obama, whom they liked, and his policies toward the region, of which they were more skeptical.
The BESA/ADL poll showed that Israelis were ambivalent about Obama’s connection to Israel, with 38% characterizing his attitude toward Israel as “friendly” or “very friendly,” 33% as “neutral,” and 8% characterizing it as “unfriendly” or “very unfriendly.”
Gilboa noted that throughout the survey, the younger respondents, aged 18 to 41, were more hawkish in their views than the older ones.
Gilboa said that, counterintuitively, the younger respondents had less trust in Obama and were more in favor of military action against Iran, even against US wishes.
So, here we are again, this is the same issue going on here in the States. Obama has a higher personal popularity than he does job approval rating regarding his policies. Personal popularity only lasts so long and recent polls show a downward trend of that. His policies have not taken affect and people still require a normal 6 month period to make up their minds. This could get very interesting the next three months of his presidency depending on the decisions that are made.
