“Kenyan American” Obama Has News For Zionist Americans
“Kenyan American” Obama Has News For Zionist Americans


At first I wasn’t sure if I heard it right. So I did a Google search and the replay of what Obama said in Nairobi last week came up quickly.

This is what he said: “I’m the first Kenyan American to be President of the United States.”

Kenyan American? That is something he never said before, and he said it with pride.

A comment like that packs a punch, especially as it comes from a man dogged by accusations that he wasn’t born in the United States. He embraced his Kenyan heritage. He showed himself proud of his African roots; let his accusers have their say.

In fact, nobody said anything. I did another search and found no one complaining about dual loyalties. Deafening silence.

...taking the cue from the President himself, let’s hear no more about divided loyalties.
The New York Times simply noted that he paid homage to the land of his father. Very nice. Yes, I give Obama credit for that if for nothing else.

But others, like American Zionists – can we please share some of that credit for ourselves? We too are completely loyal to America.

We too have family ties. For us it is Israel, the land of OUR fathers. These ties are historic, ancestral, emotional.

These are the same reflexes that motivate our love for America.

So taking the cue from the President himself, let’s hear no more about divided loyalties.

In terms of American Jews who stand with America together with Israel, enough please from the mischief-makers. Shut up, in other words.

I’m sure Obama feels the same about Kenya so far as shared ideals as we do about Israel.

I take that back.

Perhaps Obama himself would take that back because when he appealed to Kenya for more tolerance for women and gays, his message was met with frowns. When it comes to all that, Mr. Obama would be far more at home in Israel. That’s another reason our hearts go out to the Jewish State. 

Am I foolish enough to believe that our scoffers are done with us? They never sleep and they are never done.

Bernie Sanders knows the feeling.

Sanders is the Independent Democrat running for Place or Show against fading frontrunner Hillary Clinton.

A few weeks ago the Jewish Senator from Vermont was a guest on NPR where he swiftly found himself accused of divided loyalties.

Interviewer Diane Rehm (an Arab American) presented the following matter-of-fact statement: “Senator, you have dual citizenship with Israel.”

Sanders, who in his youth spent some time in a kibbutz, was forced to defend himself. “Well no,” he responded, “I’m an American.”

Obama is free and clear from that type of accusation. His admirers, NPR and the rest of them, won’t touch this.

Neither should the rest of us patriots be hearing another word against Zionist Americans. Not a single word, from anybody.

What’s good for Kenyan Americans ought to be just as good for Zionist Americans.

Jack Engelhard writes a regular column for Arutz Sheva. New from the New York-based novelist, The Bathsheba Deadline, a newsroom thriller ripped from the headlines. Engelhard wrote the int’l bestseller Indecent Proposal that was translated into more than 22 languages and turned into a Paramount motion picture starring Robert Redford and Demi Moore. Website: www.jackengelhard.com