Yesterday, president Obama spoke at the funeral of Shimon Peres, the former president and prime minister of Israel. Peres was buried at a cemetery on Mount Herzl in Jerusalem. Obama said that he was honored to be in Jerusalem in Israel to speak at the occasion. That sounds innocuous, right? When Obama is involved, however, nothing having to do with Israel is ever innocuous. Shortly after Obama spoke, the White House issued a "correction" removing the reference to Israel. Obama spoke in Jerusalem, but not in Israel.
Let's stop for a moment to consider this. Jerusalem is the capital of Israel. The Israeli parliament is there. The main government buildings are there. The prime minister lives there. Many nations have their embassies in and around Tel Aviv, however. That includes the USA, even though Congress long ago passed a law that calls for our embassy to be moved to Jerusalem. Obama's policy, however, has been not to recognize the reunification of Jerusalem that took place about 50 years ago. The old city of Jerusalem and the eastern half of the city were under Jordanian control until 1967 when Jordan attacked Israel and the Israelis took Jerusalem and the West Bank. The policy in this regard is so ridiculous that when new homes are built in the section of the city that was retaken in 1967, our government calls them "settlements" and condemns them. Official American policy under Obama is to keep part of Israel's capital free of Jews.
All of that is bad enough. Yesterday, however, Obama went one step further. Mount Herzl is in the western part of Jerusalem. It is an area that has been part of Israel since the nation was founded in 1948. There is no question, even under the idiotic policy followed by the USA under Obama, that Obama was speaking on Friday in Israel. Nevertheless, the White House decided to remove the reference to Obama's speaking in Israel just because he was in Jerusalem.
It's amazing that Obama could speak at a funeral and still manage to insult the Israelis.
Let's stop for a moment to consider this. Jerusalem is the capital of Israel. The Israeli parliament is there. The main government buildings are there. The prime minister lives there. Many nations have their embassies in and around Tel Aviv, however. That includes the USA, even though Congress long ago passed a law that calls for our embassy to be moved to Jerusalem. Obama's policy, however, has been not to recognize the reunification of Jerusalem that took place about 50 years ago. The old city of Jerusalem and the eastern half of the city were under Jordanian control until 1967 when Jordan attacked Israel and the Israelis took Jerusalem and the West Bank. The policy in this regard is so ridiculous that when new homes are built in the section of the city that was retaken in 1967, our government calls them "settlements" and condemns them. Official American policy under Obama is to keep part of Israel's capital free of Jews.
All of that is bad enough. Yesterday, however, Obama went one step further. Mount Herzl is in the western part of Jerusalem. It is an area that has been part of Israel since the nation was founded in 1948. There is no question, even under the idiotic policy followed by the USA under Obama, that Obama was speaking on Friday in Israel. Nevertheless, the White House decided to remove the reference to Obama's speaking in Israel just because he was in Jerusalem.
It's amazing that Obama could speak at a funeral and still manage to insult the Israelis.
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