Obama's Stance in Israeli Settlements Hurts His Mid East Policy

washingon times/the lid ^ | 8/17/09 | The Lid

[Shellybenoit]

There is an old proverb that compares the Jewish People to an egg. You place the egg on a cold frying pan and it spreads out, you turn on the heat and it gets hard and pulls together.

What the President and his advisers perceived as a minor concession, a settlement freeze, was not perceived by Israel as a minor one. This was a major error by Obama. And when he added Jerusalem to his demands it just compounded the situation. His insistence for a freeze and the constant public berating of the Jewish State has turned the Israeli population against Obama, and increased the support of Prime Minister Netanyahu even with the Israeli left, no fans of Bibi, but who the President would look to for support.

At the same time the President's demands have given the Palestinians an excuse to avoid negotiations and the other Arab nations an excuse to avoid making the "gestures" for which the President is looking.

The President's "rookie" mistake has not only hurt his own strategy, but damaged our relations with the only real democracy in the Middle East:

[tflabo]

Bammy kisses up to Hugo (El Puerco) Chavez and lays the dis on our ally Israel. And now both of them are ragging on Obama. Brilliant ay? So much for the smooth talking, charm the world with his persona president of the planet!