Listening to Obama at Cairo University Some Muslims Seem Won Over by President's Speech -Howard Schneider
President Obama's choice of Egypt as the site of his address to the Muslim world endeared him to Egyptians, who are always proud to host a foreigner and show off their history. When he sprinkled his speech with words from the Koran and balanced support for Israel with a strong call for a Palestinian state, the deal was closed. The appreciation for the new approach from a U.S. president seemed widespread among Middle Eastern Muslims after the speech.
(Washington Post)
President Obama Speaks to the World's Muslims -Robert Satloff
For many Muslims, the medium was the message: that a president would come to a major Muslim capital to address Muslims directly and that this president, with his compelling personal biography, would make a special effort to talk to Muslim youth - these are likely to be the most lasting impressions.
The speech was notable for its often manufactured parallelism between blemishes in Muslim societies and blemishes in America and the West. This parallelism was perhaps most artificial in the president's discussion of the contours of the Arab-Israeli conflict.
While no impartial observer can dispute the hardship of Palestinian life, it runs counter to history to suggest that Palestinians have "suffered in pursuit of a homeland," when, since 1937, Palestinian leaders have rejected no fewer than six proposals to achieve just that goal.
America can now rightfully expect to hear and see what Muslims leaders and peoples say and do in response.
(Washington Institute for Near East Policy)
Obama in Cairo -Melanie Phillips
It is not undeniable that the Palestinians "have suffered in pursuit of a homeland" because it is untrue.
The Palestinians have been offered a homeland repeatedly – in 1936, 1947, 2000 and last year. They have repeatedly turned it down. The Arabs could have created it between 1948 and 1967, when the West Bank and Gaza were occupied by Jordan and Egypt. They chose not to do so. They could have created it after 1967, when Israel offered the land to them in return for peace with Israel. They refused the offer. The Palestinians have suffered because they have tried for six decades to destroy the Jews’ homeland.
What other aggressors in the world are described as suffering “the pain of dislocation” caused by their own aggression -- which has continued for sixty years without remission and shows no sign of ending?
[H]e repeated that the settlements undermine peace and so had to stop. But they don’t undermine peace. It is Arab rejectionism that prevents peace in the Middle East, and the settlements are a palpable excuse. Yet Obama delivered no ultimatum of any kind to Iran, the real threat to peace in the region and the world; indeed, he repeated that Iran “should have the right to access peaceful nuclear power if it complies with its responsibilities under the nuclear Non-Proliferation Treaty,” an alarming indication that he might view as acceptable a formulation which might enable Iran to continue to make nuclear weapons under some kind of verbal and political camouflage.
[I]n conclusion, yes, there was some positive stuff in this speech – but it was outweighed by the President's disturbing sanitising of Islamist supremacism.
In short, deeply troubling.
[The Spectator]
Obama in Cairo -Max Boot
Should Obama have summarized the real - as opposed to the air-brushed - history? Probably not. His point wasn't to settle historical accounts but to put the best face forward to the Muslim world.
I thought he did an effective job of making America's case to the Muslim world. No question: He is a more effective salesman than his predecessor was.
Which doesn't mean that his audience will buy the message.
(Commentary)
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President Obama's choice of Egypt as the site of his address to the Muslim world endeared him to Egyptians, who are always proud to host a foreigner and show off their history. When he sprinkled his speech with words from the Koran and balanced support for Israel with a strong call for a Palestinian state, the deal was closed. The appreciation for the new approach from a U.S. president seemed widespread among Middle Eastern Muslims after the speech.
(Washington Post)
President Obama Speaks to the World's Muslims -Robert Satloff
For many Muslims, the medium was the message: that a president would come to a major Muslim capital to address Muslims directly and that this president, with his compelling personal biography, would make a special effort to talk to Muslim youth - these are likely to be the most lasting impressions.
The speech was notable for its often manufactured parallelism between blemishes in Muslim societies and blemishes in America and the West. This parallelism was perhaps most artificial in the president's discussion of the contours of the Arab-Israeli conflict.
While no impartial observer can dispute the hardship of Palestinian life, it runs counter to history to suggest that Palestinians have "suffered in pursuit of a homeland," when, since 1937, Palestinian leaders have rejected no fewer than six proposals to achieve just that goal.
America can now rightfully expect to hear and see what Muslims leaders and peoples say and do in response.
(Washington Institute for Near East Policy)
Obama in Cairo -Melanie Phillips
It is not undeniable that the Palestinians "have suffered in pursuit of a homeland" because it is untrue.
The Palestinians have been offered a homeland repeatedly – in 1936, 1947, 2000 and last year. They have repeatedly turned it down. The Arabs could have created it between 1948 and 1967, when the West Bank and Gaza were occupied by Jordan and Egypt. They chose not to do so. They could have created it after 1967, when Israel offered the land to them in return for peace with Israel. They refused the offer. The Palestinians have suffered because they have tried for six decades to destroy the Jews’ homeland.
What other aggressors in the world are described as suffering “the pain of dislocation” caused by their own aggression -- which has continued for sixty years without remission and shows no sign of ending?
[H]e repeated that the settlements undermine peace and so had to stop. But they don’t undermine peace. It is Arab rejectionism that prevents peace in the Middle East, and the settlements are a palpable excuse. Yet Obama delivered no ultimatum of any kind to Iran, the real threat to peace in the region and the world; indeed, he repeated that Iran “should have the right to access peaceful nuclear power if it complies with its responsibilities under the nuclear Non-Proliferation Treaty,” an alarming indication that he might view as acceptable a formulation which might enable Iran to continue to make nuclear weapons under some kind of verbal and political camouflage.
[I]n conclusion, yes, there was some positive stuff in this speech – but it was outweighed by the President's disturbing sanitising of Islamist supremacism.
In short, deeply troubling.
[The Spectator]
Obama in Cairo -Max Boot
Should Obama have summarized the real - as opposed to the air-brushed - history? Probably not. His point wasn't to settle historical accounts but to put the best face forward to the Muslim world.
I thought he did an effective job of making America's case to the Muslim world. No question: He is a more effective salesman than his predecessor was.
Which doesn't mean that his audience will buy the message.
(Commentary)
*
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