Really?

I was always told that if I didn't have anything nice to say, I best not say anything at all. Apparently a lot of Israelis want Obama to (perhaps) violate that rule and speak to them directly. Here, have some commentary on the piece:

This policy of ignoring Israel carries a price. Though Mr. Obama has succeeded in prodding Mr. Netanyahu to accept the idea of a Palestinian state alongside Israel, he has failed to induce Israel to impose a freeze on settlements. In fact, he has failed even to stir debate about the merits of one: no Israeli political figure has stood up to Mr. Netanyahu and begged him to support Mr. Obama; not even the Israeli left, desperate for a new agenda, has adopted Mr. Obama as its icon.

Ah, yes, because everyone around the world is supposed to adopt Obama as its new icon for peace and change. I forgot about that one.

In Mr. Netanyahu’s narrative, the president has fallen under the influence of top aides — in this case Rahm Emanuel and David Axelrod — whom the prime minister has called “self-hating Jews.” Meanwhile, Mr. Netanyahu is the defender of national glory in face of unfair pressure, someone who sticks to the first commandment of Israeli culture: thou shalt never be the freier (that is, the dupe).

Kudos for using the word 'dupe.' Just because someone wants to see peace in the Middle East and understands that BOTH sides have to give up some stuff (Palestine being the only side that's really given up anything to date) doesn't make them self-hating Jews. It makes them Jews who understand that what Israel and supporting countries have done the people of Palestine is terrible.

A Jerusalem Post poll of Israeli Jews last month indicated that only 6 percent of those surveyed considered the Obama administration to be pro-Israel, while 50 percent said that its policies are more pro-Palestinian than pro-Israeli. Less scientifically: Israeli rightists have — in columns, articles and public statements — taken to calling the president by his middle name, Hussein, as proof of his pro-Arab tendencies.

Shouldn't the focus be on what is pro-peace and not pro-Israel? If you want a pro-Israel political ally, you really aren't going to get one anytime soon, at least in the United States.

Fourth, as far as most Israelis are concerned, Mr. Obama has made a mistake in focusing on a settlement freeze. For starters, mainstream Israelis rarely have anything to do with the settlements; many have no idea where they are, even when they’re a half-hour’s drive from Tel Aviv.

Oh good, so then it isn't just the United States that fails to get any news whatsoever from the Palestinian side of things due to bias media and suppression? How do you not know about problems in your own holy land? Wow.

In other related news, I bought a book about the conflict the other day, thinking that it would be informative, only to find out that it is very pro-Israel. I don't really have anything wrong with that point of view (when it's not extremist) but the world cannot ignore the atrocities being perpetrated on the Palestinian people - Arabs and Christians, women and children, young and old.