To expand on the claim that Barack Obama has joined the rest of the American political establishment in Israel's amen corner, here is what I take to be a representative statement by him. The occasion was a visit to Israel last July. He was asked, while in Sderot, a town in southern Israel within the range of rockets fired from Gaza, whether he would negotiate with Hamas. He answered:
I don't think any country would find it acceptable to have missiles raining down on the heads of their citizens. The first job of any nation state is to protect its citizens. And so I can assure you that if--I don't even care if I was a politician--if somebody was sending rockets into my house where my two daughters sleep at night, I'm going to do everything in my power to stop that. And I would expect Israelis to do the same thing.
Though he did not exactly answer the question, I guess we are to take that as a No. But what interests me is that, whether it is reflexive or planned beforehand, he is eager to show that he is on Israel's side--so eager that his Harvard Law syntax momentarily deserts him. He expects Israelis to defend themselves and their children. Of course he knows that Palestinians, too, have children, but he does not mention them. Have the disparate civilian body counts of the two sides made no impression on him? Does he expect Israel to "protect its citizens" and the Palestinians just to die? Does he think the Palestinians have any cause for complaint? The illegal 40-year occupation? The settlements? The restrictions on travel and the humiliations suffered at checkpoints? Seeing (at least) two sides of every question is supposed to be one of his strengths. On these questions, however, he just jumps into Israel's shoes.
Which, returning to where I began, is what all American politicians have always done. How's it working?
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