Obama to Appear at AIPAC Three Days After Jabbing Israel

Candidate Obama speaking to AIPAC in 2008...he is likely to face a more hostile audience this Sunday morning

Obama at AIPAC: Let the Fun Begin -Rabbi Shmuley Boteach

President Obama’s advisors wanted him to get out in front of Prime Minister Netanyahu’s address to a joint session of Congress on Monday. So they preempted Bibi’s own peace proposal by having Obama call for Israel to return to its 1967 borders, give or take a few land swaps.

There was one problem with the timing. It overlooked the fact that President Obama is addressing the largest gathering of AIPAC ever this coming Sunday, with 10,000 pro-Israel activists in attendance. It’ll be fun to see what happens. Here is Obama who just became the first president to ever call on Israel to return to the 1967 lines going in front, just three days later, of the largest annual gathering of Jews and Israel supporters. What were the President’s advisors thinking?

The President will no doubt be respectfully welcomed and the organizers have already asked the crowd not to boo. But the President’s speech will have zero credibility and he may as well not bother.

Could he not have devoted just a single speech – without Israel as a distraction – to the momentous and welcome changes in the Arab world in which hundreds of millions of people are tasting freedom for the first time?

In throwing in such an inflammatory demand of the Middle East’s sole democracy and a state that is just a crumb compared to the vast Arab lands that surround it, the President knew full well that his pressure on Israel would dominate the speech and feed the lie that Israeli intransigence is the cause of the turmoil in the Middle East.

What a shame the President gave this foolish speech. He was just beginning to win over many of his detractors by finally showing he had a backbone by killing Osama bin Laden in a daring raid.  It was a new Obama, standing up to tyranny, sounding the clarion call for freedom, warning tyrants they would face retribution. Now we’re back to the same old Obama, weak on dictators and tough on Israel.
[The Jewish Week]
*

Obama's speech, AIPAC's problem -James Besser

President Barack Obama's “Cairo II” speech yesterday may have complicated life for the American Israel Public Affairs Committee (AIPAC), whose annual policy conference he will keynote on Sunday.

The Zionist Organization of America (ZOA) has called on AIPAC to rescind its invitation to Obama – like that's going to happen...

Even before the speech, there was great concern at AIPAC headquarters that Obama would provoke some less-than-friendly responses. You can bet that concern has been redoubled since yesterday.
[The Jewish Week]

Note: I will be attending the AIPAC Conference and will report on it on this blog.  Bruce
*