Haaretz reports President Obama will be visiting the Church of the Nativity in Bethlehem during his visit to Israel and the West Bank in a few days.
Four years ago Pope Benedict made the same visit and drew attention to Israel’s apartheid wall by giving a speech in its shadow.
“In a world where more and more borders are being opened up — to trade, to travel, to movement of peoples, to cultural exchanges — it is tragic to see walls still being erected,” Benedict said.
Obama could do the same — at least we can imagine what that would be like and how it would go down in history, like JFK declaring “Ich bin ein Berliner” or Reagan challenging the Soviet Union to “Tear down this wall!”
But what’s he going to do instead? Stand in front of an Iron Dome missile battery for a photo-op alongside Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu and President Shimon Peres.
I remember him saying NOT ONE WORD about the Cast Iron massacre (“only one POTUS at a time”) but commented on poor Sderot (built on the bulldozed site of Palestinian village Najd) whose terrified residents had to flee to shelters because of a few pathetic rockets from Gaza.
No change likely.
That’s right — no change likely. He did indeed make it clear where he stands during Cast Lead. Obama certainly doesn’t have the courage and I don’t think he even has the imagination to be a real agent of change.
Secrecy over transparency, he’ll probably give Israel that most favored nation stuff that no other in the world has, of which we wont learn of until it’s too late. American treasure, both money & human life, totally disregarding the American peoples wishes for the benefit of the few, those who profit off the misery of the many. Considering the state of the M.E. since 9/11, what else might be expected for someone like him? He should put the uniform of the combat soldier and spend a couple tours of duty in the hot zone, then he might see what it’s like.