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Posted on 03/19/2013 10:18:41 PM PDT by IsraelBeach

Obama Visits Israel: Welcome The Stranger?

By Joel Leyden
Israel News Agency

Jerusalem, Israel --- March 20, 2013 … In a matter of hours, US President Barack Obama will set foot on Israeli soil. This will be Barack Obama's first visit to Israel as President. One needs to ask why?

This may very well be the least anticipated visit to Israel by a US President. Many do not view Obama as a "friend" of Israel - and for good reason.

Obama, a Christian, grew up as a Muslim in Indonesia. As a Muslim he learned to embrace Islam and expel all other religions. These values were reinforced when he was in Hawaii receiving educational training from Frank Marshall Davis, a radical communist who hated Western colonialism. He later searched out and embraced academic mentors Rashid Khalidi and Edward Said, two men who focused on the Middle East with an abundance of hostility to Israel. And then we have his Christian mentor, Pastor Jeremiah Wright, one the most aggressive anti-Semites in the US.

There is more. Much more that many of us were totally unaware of - such as the Saudis who paid for his university education. But we failed to take the time, a simple 10 minutes to discover where Obama came from. Many of us just knew that we were Jewish or Christian and were proud to vote for the first Black President.

Obama, who told former French President Sarkozy that he "had to deal with Netanyahu every day" and left Netanyahu at a White House meeting to have dinner with his wife, has no love nor true appreciation for the Jewish state.

In Obama's first term as President, he visited Egypt, Turkey and bowed to leaders in Saudi Arabia (since when do US Presidents bow to foreign leaders?) but had no time for the only democracy in the Middle East.

Obama speaks about Israel returning to suicidal pre-1967 borders, inviting the creation of another Hamas Gaza on the West Bank. A Hamas West Bank that could shut down Ben-Gurion Airport with one home made rocket and terrorize Tel Aviv with many more.

Obama speaks about dividing Jerusalem - the ancient, biblical, religious, cultural and legal capital of Israel.

He speaks of Israel removing settlements in the West Bank (Judea and Samaria) as Syria massacres more than 80,000 of its citizens and Iran does all it can to build a nuclear bomb. In speaking about Jewish settlements he does the work of both the Iran and Syria governments in deflecting the media away from their human rights atrocities.

Barack Obama comes to Israel but stays away from the Western Wall and will not address the Israeli government in the Knesset. Are we to think that Israeli security and the CIA cannot control security around the Western Wall and that threats by Arabs against Obama to visit the Western Wall should be obeyed? That Obama is fearful of conversing with Israeli lawmakers who can articulate Israel's existence in the Knesset?

(Photo)
Netanyahu, a former commando who knows the security needs of Israel, is looked upon with contempt by Obama. Will this contempt turn to respect?

Obama comes as a stranger to Israel. Under Jewish law, we are taught to welcome the stranger and give him bread. And this is what Israel is doing.

But transcending Jewish law, are there those in the Israel Ministry of Defense and the Israel Ministry of Foreign Affairs who feel that they can honestly reach Obama? That we can enlighten Barack Obama in three days?

I have to give those in Jerusalem, including President Shimon Peres, the benefit of the doubt. But never for one moment should we ever forget that Obama is a master salesperson. He has choreographed this Israeli visit minute by minute. He will attempt to control every image and feel that the media takes and delivers through TV, news print and social media.

Israel knows that it has the support of the American people. The support of the US Congress and the US Department of Defense. Support that overshadows a recently confirmed CIA director who calls Jerusalem - Al Quds and a new Secretary of Defense who opposes calling Hezbollah a terror organization.

We can only pray that Obama's visit to Herzl's grave and a trek to view the Dead Sea Scrolls will make him more of a friend. But don't expect this tiger to change its stripes. We can smile, shake hands and break bread with the stranger as we must remember that it is the Office of the President that we must and will respect.

The person holding that office, must gain our respect by understanding Israel's security needs, mutual security issues - not through soundbytes but through firm, immediate action against Iran, Syria, Hamas and Hezbollah.

Mr. President - democratic Israel is not 6,000 miles away from Islamic Jihad.
We face it on all of our borders. We cannot and will not allow any security threats to manifest.

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