Video: Bush's Speech To The Israeli Knesset In 2008

We can expect a lot of chest thumping from Obama over the coming months, both claiming that he is a great friend of Israel and that people are distorting his record. I imagine that Obama's defenders will denigrate Bush's record on Israel, saying that he was too friendly to Israel and alienated the Arab world.

There are arguments against that claim, but the fact remains that Bush visited Israel after he was elected to his second term, and listening to his speech to the Israeli Knesset, you get the sense of genuine feeling.

Meanwhile, we still wait for Obama to visit the country he calls "friend" and "ally"--perhaps to deliver a speech that equals his Cairo speech.

Obama has started his 2012 campaign and his Jewish support is weakening--so we may yet see Obama visit Israel.

Till then, here is the speech Bush gave.
A transcript of the speech follows after the video.

Do Any Journalists Have The Guts To Ask Ahmadinejad These Questions?

Karim Sadjadpour, an associate at the Carnegie Endowment for International Peace, has composed a list of questions to ask Ahmadinejad during his annual appearance at the UN--"culled from Iranian democracy and human rights activists who don’t have a chance to query the president directly".


Here are some of them:

o Somayeh Tohidlou, a 32-year-old female sociology PhD student, recently received 50 lashes in prison for having “insulted” you by campaigning for Mousavi in 2009. Do you believe that men lashing women for their political views is an appropriate form of punishment?

Ad In Today's New York Times: Tell President Obama It’s Time To Stand With Israel.

The Emergency Committee for Israel (ECI) has come out today with an ad appearing in today's New York Times

Tell President Obama: Enough.
It’s time to stand with Israel.

Over the past two and a half years, President Obama has built a record that is not pro-Israel. He tells Jews they cannot build in Jerusalem; he has criticized Israel at the UN; he has pressured Israel to apologize to terrorists; he seeks the division of Jerusalem.

Because of these policies, Israel and the Palestinians have never been further from peace. As Israel faces hostility and instability in the Middle East, it is more important than ever that America and our leaders stand with our democratic ally, Israel.

During his 2008 campaign for president, Senator Obama promised to be a staunch and reliable friend of the Jewish State. There is still time for President Obama to keep that promise. Here are five steps that would begin to put his presidency on such a path:

Barry Rubin: I accuse President Barack Obama of Destroying Western Interests in the Middle East, Helping Destabilize the Region, and Putting Millions of Lives in Jeopardy

I accuse President Barack Obama of Destroying Western Interests in the Middle East, Helping Destabilize the Region, and Putting Millions of Lives in Jeopardy

By Barry Rubin

Think of how outrageous my headline is:

“Destroying Western Interests in the Middle East, Helping Destabilize the Region, and Putting Millions of Lives in Jeopardy”

Do you think that’s extremist, crazy, can’t be true because you’re not seeing that stuff in the New York Times? You must be a right-wing Republican, you say?

Why Palestinian Arabs Shouldn't Use Israeli Servers

I'm sure the Turkish hackers were very proud of themselves when they hacked into 70 sites on an Israeli server--but they were all sites being run by Palestinian Arabs:

Anti-Israel Turks erroneously hack into Palestinian sites

Turkish hackers attacked dozens of Israeli websites over the weekend, only to find out that the sites belonged to Palestinians.

Poster: Abbas vs Zionist Pig

What we want is to end the occupation and tend legitimacy for, occupation and practices is the nightmare that is holding our hearts, as reflected these practices continued raids and arrests and the building of walls and demolition of houses, and the intensification of settlement activities, and attacks the settlers of Bakla trees and burning of mosques and the latest training dogs to attack us and send the wild pigs to wreak land corrupt, three things which the settlers will confront us: When any person Siatdon find it, well its streets and dogs, and pigs for the uprooting of trees, in addition of course to the tanks.
Abbas, in speech last week (translated from Arabic by Google Translate)

Something as ludicrous as this was bound to get attention:

And So It Begins: Obama Is "The First Jewish President"

I have always followed a rule: never allow someone to become your priority while you become his or her option. For President Elect Barack Obama and the entire Democrat Party leadership in this country, the Hip Hop generation has never been a priority, we have always been an option and that option is used mostly to get out the vote during elections.
Why President Elect Barack Obama is not the first Hip Hop President, by Rosa A. Clemente

If you weren't sure if people were thinking about the 2012 election, here's a clue:

Yes, it's time once again to prove Obama's bona fides on Israel and reassure the Jewish community that Obama is their man!

Mideast Media Sampler 09/19/2011

From DG:

1) What if they threw a revolution and no one came?


Ya Libnan reports (h/t Elder of Ziyon):

Recent college graduate Reem Qadan is exactly the kind of young, energetic West Bank resident the Palestinian Authority hopes will hit the streets this week when it makes its historic case for U.N. membership and statehood recognition.
But rather than use her Facebook page to coordinate plans with friends to join the rallies, the 21-year-old is posting critical messages dismissing the United Nations bid as a “tale of collective mismanagement” by Palestinian leaders. Many of her Facebook friends echoed the sentiments and said they planned to skip the rallies.

Mahmoud Abbas's term has expired. He is not very charismatic. What would happen if the anticipated protests don't occur this week? It would mean that the UDI doesn't have the support of the people it is meant to represent.

Video: The Shomron - Samaria - Israel's Higher Ground

The Shomron Liaison Office was established to provide the local, regional and international community with information on the Shomron.

In an effort to increase and enhance our informational services, the Shomron Regional Council has initiated exciting new programs including guided tours in the Shomron, providing participants with a firsthand perspective of the growing communities, diversified residents and dynamic developments in the region.

See the video:

Arlene Kushner: Tense Time

From Arlene Kushner:

September 18, 2011

"Tense Time"

~~~~~~~~~~ 

As I begin with housekeeping issues, I thank you for your patience: 

Because of difficulties I've been having with posting transmission via gmail, some of you failed to receive my last posting, "Predictable."  You can find it on my website, here:  

Read Predictable 

Whether you received it or not, I ask, please, that you bookmark my website: 

Read Arlene Kushner's Current Postings

All postings go up on that site now ("current postings").  If a lengthy period goes by in which you don't hear from me, you might want to access this site to be certain you have not missed anything.  

Gmail tells me the problem has been corrected and that there should be no further trouble.  Call me a realist: I'll know this is the case only after I've used my address for some days.  I won't know if this posting will go out properly until it's been sent. 

Please, until it is certain that all is well, when writing to me, utilize akushner@netvision.net.il and not my gmail address.  

I expect to post next in the middle of this week. 

~~~~~~~~~~ 

There are always tensions here.  But this seems a time in which we're facing several troublesome issues at once.