I Hope He Means This

I have been very disappointed with early indications of exactly what the changes are that President Obama plans to bring to this country. But I was reserving judgement until I heard his stance on Israel. And if he follows through on this part of his speech in Egypt today, I think a great many Jews can be somewhat relieved.

"The second major source of tension that we need to discuss is the situation between Israelis, Palestinians and the Arab world.
America's strong bonds with Israel are well known. This bond is unbreakable. It is based upon cultural and historical ties, and the recognition that the aspiration for a Jewish homeland is rooted in a tragic history that cannot be denied.
Around the world, the Jewish people were persecuted for centuries, and anti-Semitism in Europe culminated in an unprecedented Holocaust. Tomorrow, I will visit Buchenwald, which was part of a network of camps where Jews were enslaved, tortured, shot and gassed to death by the Third Reich. Six million Jews were killed - more than the entire Jewish population of Israel today. Denying that fact is baseless, ignorant, and hateful. Threatening Israel with destruction - or repeating vile stereotypes about Jews - is deeply wrong, and only serves to evoke in the minds of Israelis this most painful of memories while preventing the peace that the people of this region deserve."

Unfortunately Obama went on to call for the creation of a Palestinian state and the cessation of Jewish settlements in the West Bank. Both of those things I can live with if they are concessions in exchange for a true peace in the region. But as we have learned many times throughout the course of this conflict it is not the desire of Arabs and Palestinians to leave peaceably with Jews, they want to throw all the Jews in the sea.