A Not-So-Happy Anniversary

Egypt has long tried to keep Israel at arms length, treating the Jewish state coldly and never truly embracing the idea of a warm and friendly peace
Israel this week celebrated 30 years since the signing of the Israel-Egypt peace treaty, holding a series of diplomatic receptions, public exhibitions and museum events to mark the occasion.

And just how did Egypt choose to commemorate the forging of peace with the Jewish state?

Well, they didn't.

As the Jerusalem Post reported yesterday, "In Egypt, on the other hand, not much fireworks or fanfare is planned. There is "nothing official that I know of" going on in Cairo to commemorate the March 26 anniversary, Egyptian Foreign Ministry spokesman Hossam Zaki told The Jerusalem Post on Wednesday. He said he did not know why."

Well, I'll be glad to tell you why: Egypt has long tried to keep Israel at arms length, treating the Jewish state coldly and never truly embracing the idea of a warm and friendly peace.

Whether it is undermining Israel at various international bodies, or allowing Hamas to smuggle weapons freely from Sinai into Gaza, the Egyptian regime of autocratic President Hosni Mubarak has never missed a chance for diplomatic or security mischief-making.

Nonetheless, that didn't seem to stop US President Barack Obama this week from citing the Israel-Egypt peace treaty as a source of inspiration in his efforts to advance a two-state solution to the Israeli-Palestinian conflict.

What an unfortunate remark to make!! Instead of pressing the Egyptians (who receive $2 billion in foreign aid annually from the American taxpayer) to forge a true and lasting peace, and to play a positive and constructive role in the region, Obama has essentially let them off the hook.

But let Obama say what he wishes. Cairo's failure to mark the anniversary of the peace treaty this week speaks far more loudly and compellingly about the real nature of Egypt's intentions.

Iran Disses Obama

US President Barack Obama may have made an unprecedented video appeal to Iran on Friday in an effort to improve relations, but the Ayatollahs wasted little time in rejecting it out of hand.

Speaking less than 24 hours after Obama's extraordinary plea for "constructive ties", Tehran's so-called Supreme Leader, Ayatollah Ali Khamenei, dismissed the move as little more than just "a slogan".

Here is how the Times of London reported it: "A familiar chant of “Death to America” echoed around a religious shrine in the northeastern city of Mashhad as Khamenei complained that Obama had “insulted the Islamic republic of Iran from the first day”. He added: “If you are right that change has come, where is that change? Make it clear for us what has changed.”

Khamenei continued with the usual harangue about US sanctions against Iran and its support for "the Zionist regime", in effect dissing the President and his attempt to lay the groundwork for dialogue between the two countries.

But by all accounts, Obama and his aides remain undeterred. As the Times noted, "President Barack Obama intends to press ahead with efforts to open a dialogue with Iran", despite the "apparent setback" of Khamenei's remarks.

Translation: Washington intends to waste still more time and effort trying to talk to the Ayatollahs, even as the latter move ever more closer to obtaining nuclear weapons capability. And so, while the countdown proceeds towards a nuclear Iran, Obama insists on continuing to play the fiddle. Let's just hope that the West doesn't end up burning as a result.

Obama vs. Judea and Samaria

Barack Obama has been in office for just over 6 weeks, but he has already declared a quiet war against the heartland of the Jewish people.

A report in Ha'aretz reveals that "Israel is under increased pressure from the United States over settlement construction. In the past month, since Barack Obama was sworn in as U.S. president, Israel has received four official complaints from members of the new administration regarding various issues linked to West Bank settlements".

The "complaints" relate to the demolition of illegal Palestinian homes in eastern Jerusalem and various Israeli construction plans in Judea and Samaria.

So even though Iran is speeding towards construction of a nuclear weapon, North Korea is threatening to test-fire a long-range missile, and Pakistan is engulfed by political turmoil and increasing Islamist terror, Mr. Obama is focusing his sights on pressuring Israel.

It is simply outrageous that the US seeks to interfere in internal Israeli affairs, such as whether illegally-constructed homes should be demolished. Nowhere else in the world would such interference be tolerated - and Israel should pay it no heed.

Judea and Samaria are the cradle of Jewish civilization, the place where our ancestors once walked thousands of years before the advent of Islam or the establishment of the PLO.

What a shame that instead of seeking to bolster the Jewish return to Zion, Mr. Obama prefers to try and stand in its way.