Israel responds to Obama
Israel responds to ObamaIsrael News Photo: (file)

As the Israeli government convenes to discuss the ramifications of U.S. President Barack Obama's speech in Cairo, other Israeli politicians have lost no time in responding to it. Excerpts:

MK Danny Danon (Likud): “The president has crossed all lines. His implied comparison between the Israeli government and the Nazi regime said everything. He has made a covenant with the Arab world and rewarded it for more than 60 years of aggression.”

MK Aryeh Eldad (National Union): “Obama makes a shocking parallel between the destruction of European Jewry and the suffering that the Arabs of Israel brought upon themselves when they declared war on

Israel.”

MK Eldad: How dare Obama compare Arab refugee suffering to the six million Jews murdered in the Holocaust?



“If Obama does not understand the difference between them, perhaps he will understand it better when he visits the Buchenwald concentration camp in the comings days. And if he doesn’t understand it even there, then Islam will once again teach it to him, just as it taught his predecessor on 9/11.”

Regarding Obama’s praise of Islam, Eldad said, “Obama spoke more from his own heart and less from genuine understanding of the direction Islam is taking around the world. Whoever thinks that the establishment of a Palestinian state will stop the war in Darfur, India, Chechnya, and Europe will apparently soon learn that Israel is not willing to be the ‘pound of flesh’ that he wants to throw to the Muslims.”

MK Dr. Michael Ben-Ari (National Union) said: “The Zionist vision of the rebuilding of the Land of Israel is stronger than any president or government. We outlasted Pharaoh, and we will outlast Obama.”

Obama said, "The United States does not accept the legitimacy of continued Israeli settlements. It is time for these settlements to stop."

Ben-Ari said, “Everyone can now see that Obama is not interested in Maoz Esther, but in Jerusalem.



MK Zevulun Orlev (Jewish Home): "The speech arouses fears and concerns regarding the future of American relations towards Israel. I fear an erosion of the traditional American commitment to Israel’s security needs and its very existence and independence. Our response must not be to cave in, but rather to have dialogue with, and persuade the Administration, while waging an emergency call-up of all the resources of Israel and the Jewish nation. ”

 

MK Ophir Pines-Paz (Labor): “Though things might be understood differently, I believe that Israel can be the big winner from the American change in approach… I am sorry that he said nothing about the return of Gilad Shalit as one of the confidence-building gestures that should be implemented.”

 

MK Zev Boim, formerly of the Likud – where he nominally opposed the Disengagement - and now of Kadima: “Obama’s stance on the Palestinian issue is identical to that of Kadima. It is too bad that Netanyahu, because of narrow political considerations, is unable to join the idea of two states for two peoples, which is the only idea that can guarantee Israel’s existence as a Jewish state.”

Col. (ret.) Moti Yogev told Channel One television news, "Obama's speech was very professional and peace-seeking. But he quoted our Sages, which he attributed to the Quran, and the same Sages and sources have spoken of the Jewish People's right to this Land. Just as he said that the State of Israel will not disappear, the same is true about the settlements in Judea and Samaria."

Yogev added, "Though the speech was not inflammatory, I am sure that it will give a push to the settlement effort throughout Judea and Samaria, and we will grow even stronger than the five percent growth rate we already enjoy."

Meretz Party chairman MK Chaim Oron: “The speech was inspired, optimistic, and heralded a new spirit that seemed to have disappeared from the region.”