Obama's Speech in Cairo - Reactions on the Ground

Again.. the same thing.. ARABS and Muslims want to see the action! What are THEY willing to do? Have they done ANYTHING to bridge the gap? And don't tell me that its the US who has messed up things. Muslims are equally to blame.

I haven't seen a SINGLE statement of reconciliation from any Muslim analyst or commentator in the last week. There is no one who says.. "Guys, now WE should act.. he has done it.. now its our turn!".

People can be divided into three groups - those who make things happen, those who watch things happen, and those who wonder what happened.

Given the reaction from the Muslim world, you know where majority of the contemporary Muslim analysts and commentators fall.. :)

nice speech:)

(end of comment on this)

digression:

the real problem is not muslims, jews, christians, hindus and others who subscribe to their perceived gods...as interpreted for them by their clergy...and then the followers go on killing spree in the name of those gods...

the problem may also be with those perceived gods who do not communicate with their followers effectively

hence the mayhem caused in their names

"That he would fight negative stereotypes of Islam wherever they may appear. A statement that was greeted with loud applause, that almost died down with his following sentence "But the same principle should apply to Muslim stereotypes of America" This did not seem to be what the crowd wanted to hear."

Is'nt that the key? I am sure they cannot respond to this challange. The muslim world is unwilling to reciprocate. Here are a few itmes.
1 Wherever they are a minority in most countries they enjoy acceptance by majority. Such acceptance is rarely accorded to minorities in muslim majority contiries.
2 In the west they enjoy democracy. Yet they justify theocracies in their countries.
3 In the christian west they enjoy freedom and human rights. In the muslim world such rights are curtailed.
4 They add to their number by converting. They will not permit any one to leave their religion.
5 They are free to criticize other religions.
They will permit no crtiticism.

Upon serious reflection one has to conclude that we are unlikely to move towards peace and reconciliation very soon.

Kim,

Well written piece. This is the opportunity that the Arab world has been waiting for and they have been given a chance to prove that they can work togeether towards ensuring peace and prosperity in the middle east.

As an aside, I am green with envy that you live in cairo:-) I still remember the kushari...ahhh!

Kim,

I agree with Sarah, you wrote this very well, covering reactions in al-Qahir and giving a real sense of what it was like to be there.

But there were reactions elsewhere as well, particularly the target (as in what was to be attacked) of this speech, Israel. This was mine:


In this speech, Obama did exactly what I hoped he would do - he moved the government of the United States from its false position of "friendship" and "special relationship" to Israel over to the dark side of Arab dictatorship and lies. This is where the government of the United States has been for decades - the enemy of the Jewish State.

It's good to see so many Jews discomfited by this dropping of the mask by the US government. The truth hurts and they are seeing the truth - at long last. Netanyahu has to choose between his paymasters in Washington - and between his homeland. And he is having a bitch of a time contorting himself to the "new realities" - realities which were extant for decades but carefully hidden by all the talk of "the democracy in the Middle East" and special relationship and all the other delusory talk which Jews (PARTICULARLY AMERICAN JEWS) used to hide the ugly truth of the relationship of imperial control of Israel by the States.

Obama talks to the Moslems of not dictating terms - and subsequently dictated to the Jews terms of peace as if the Jews were his dogs. Any Arab in al-Qahir used to screaming al-yahúd klabná - the Jews are our dogs - could see the symbolism, and smile with real appreciation.

Obama was indeed masterful in his speech. He lied and distorted the facts with the smoothness of a preacher. Those years listening to Jeremiah Wright - a Moslem learning how to lie like a Christian - were obviously not wasted.

The irony is sweet - the symbolism Divine.

A generation of American Jews devoted themselves to the betterment of the civil rights of the American Negro - who dubbed himself "African-American" to get away from the humiliation the word "Negro" (and its derogatory variants) occasioned only to find their own "homeland" and their Israeli compatriots stabbed in the back by a real African-American, a first generation American whose mother was raised in Hawaii and whose father was raised in Kenya.

And the vast majority of Israelis are afraid to call this the betrayal it is - because indeed it isn't. The American government is doing what it wanted to do since Secretary of State George Marshall resigned over the vote on UN Resolution 181 partitioning the Mandate in 1947. The American government is out to screw the Jews and is doing it with gusto!

G-d indeed has a very sharp sense of humor.

Sarah, It is heartening to hear another voice of hope instead of just hate-filled rhetoric.

t, you have a point there, but the perceived Gods have never asked any of their followers to resort to violence in their name. It is always the interpreters of the perceived God's words who rouse and rally people to violence i nthe name of God. The maximum any Holy book says about violence is that people have a right to defend themselves and the implication was from immediate threat, not perceived future threats.

Ruvy, was suprised that you didnt jump into this discussion sooner.

President Obama never attacked Israel, he has asked it to be sensible. It is the departure from the former relationship of Israel unilaterally dictating terms to the US that is hard to bear for Israel's current leadership. President Netanyahu can no longer make a phone call and force the President of the United States to vote against a bill that was being promoted by America's own Condoleeza Rice in the UN. And this is what you seem to be disappointed about and are painting as "America has gone over to the dark side"

There has to be a compromise if the mindless killing of innocent lives is to stopped. And a compromise is not about "I take, you give" A compromise by its very definition is that both sides give some and take some. And for the first time in a long while an American President has the balls to say that out publicly about the tensions in the Middle East.

You paint the Arabs as the Dark side and the logical implication from that statement is that you consider the Jews/Israel the White side.

The problem is that every side has its fanatics who bring a bad name tothe peaceful followers of a religion.

Consider the words of the popular rabbi Manis Friedman as covered by an Israeli newspaper, not American, not Arab, but Israeli.
http://www.haaretz. com/hasen/ spages/1091469. html

Every religion has its share of so called religious leaders who make a part of the population of the religions followers cringe in shame. The rabid views of a few does not justify tarring everyone who follows that religion with the brush of "fundamentalist" or "terrorist"

There are enough examples of hate and violence on all sides. Consider this video, shot before Obama made his speech in Cairo
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Uxt9HwfPwPo

We need to promote peace and understanding, not hate and violence. While this may sound like a hippy pipe dream, this is the hope which allows a lot of people to sleep at night.

Again, "All of us share this world for but a brief moment in time. The question is whether we spend that time focused on what pushes us apart, or whether we commit ourselves to an effort - a sustained effort - to find common ground, to focus on the future we seek for our children, and to respect the dignity of all human beings"

Kim,

The link you gave me to Youtube requires one to open an account with the folks, something I had no desire to do. But this link to the Jerusalem Post article which reported on the video doesn't require sign-ups or anything else. Just click and play - and watch drunken American Jews vent their anger at Obama. Like Obama, they traced Jewish history no further back than the Nazi murders of my people. And frankly, they made fools of themselves, and if I didn't know better, would have made me ashamed for them. That is what American Jewry has declined to. But they at least cared enough to come and visit Israel, something too many other American Jews refuse to do.

At the same article, you can also watch a video of Israeli university students kissing American ass - after the speech. You would have thought that Obama was a god from the way these kids talked.

You never would have imagined that he had just knifed their country in the stomach; that there was a plan to force Netanyahu from office in two years (reported in the Washington Post on 29 May); that an American general training Arab soldiers for the PA proudly said that if their wasn't peace in two years these soldiers would start to kill Jews; you'd never guess that the American secretary of state had basically stated (not in those words) that all of Judea and Samaria and a good part of Jerusalem had to be Jew-free; you would never guess that a major American security official had called for an American invasion of Israel on TV in the States. What you call a policy of "balance" is really a policy designed to put an end to Israel.

Now, I should be complaining - or I would if I was one of those whiny Jews who relies on America to be a "friend" and who thinks that Israel should have a "special" relationship with the States and all that other garbage. If that were the case, I'd be no different from the drunken racists on the Blumenthal video you pointed me to. But I'm not one of these fools. I remember my history well.

Obama is nothing but a cheap liar - a hustler of snake oil. I've seen these types many times while living in the States. And he will lead all who follow him to nothing but disaster. Nevertheless, I wanted him to be elected - at least now in America, we have a real enemy, a man who wishes us evil instead of a false friend like George Bush was or John McCain would have been. And you know what? Obama may get what he hopes for - for Netanyahu to be driven from office. But he will not like the result. A pliant puppet will not replace him. Instead, a man of war will, and if America should invade us, body bags will go from Hebron, Israel to Hebron, Pennsylvania (or is it Connecticut? - it's been a while....).

As I told Desh, there will not be peace here until there is war and much blood shed. You can go and read how the enemy prepares even as I type this to you. That war will not end with a Jewish defeat.

If I remember right, al-Qahir is one hour behind us, so it's mid-afternoon there now. Take care, and have a pleasant evening.

kim:

we are on the same page...the kahanite god, a cousin of the taliban god is perceived to be telling her followers to flog, behead, occupy, bomb, cut off food and water, displace, not allow them to return, ghettoise, bantustise....

and when exposed...to cry tears of righteous indignation!

all in the name of perceived god/s

Ruvy, For crying out loud America is not going to invade Israel. Even just a talk about that idea will result into a massive uproar throughout the country and even in the congress. It is absurd to think of that. Sure they will exert some pressure on Israel to make significant consessions about withdrawals from occupied land.. But invade you got to be joking. Are you?

I agree with you. There will be no peace. Not because America is going to invade Israel but it because ther is no unity in the Arab world to negotiate peace. Some are determined to wipe Israel off the map. How in the world you could have peace with people who want to kill you as a condition of peace. Out of question.

Morris,

I don't joke about things like this. I don't let my imaginings run away with me either, in spite of the opinions of some here. I've speculated that this could happen - but Samantha Powers proves my speculations here.

Just watch this Youtube video of Samantha Powers stuttering out her plan for American forces to be a massive presence on the "West Bank" - Judea and Samaria - Israel!

That's where I live, Morris. That means that either American soldiers kill me - or I kill them. I don't figure to live long, but I do figure to take a few Yanks to hell with me, if it does come to that.

Ruvy

I have not been able to see this video. Give me a gist if you can. What is she talking about? Besides, why do you think such an invasion is likely? Please enlighen me and others too.

Ruvy, I don't think Obama is going to invade Israel. Why would he do that? What peace would that bring? ( I couldn't open the link you sent).

Give him a chance. Maybe this time the two sides can really talk to each other, without bringing god into it. I really hope that talks can go forward without either side acting smug.

Ruvy, ultimately this is not about whose god spoke the truth, is it? It's only about whether two neighbours can now begin to live in peace.

Sarah, Morris,

This whole series of events going on here is not about peace or a search for peace, although the talk is seductively about peace. This whole series of events transpiring is about war and conquest by the Arabs of the Land of Israel, and about the United States government (not the people, mind you, the government) finally doing what it has wanted to do for decades - destroy the Jewish entity in the Land of Israel.

Anyone can see that a "Palestine" barely the size of the New York (or Los Angeles) metropolitan area is an unviable proposition and will either have to expand (either east or west) or be absorbed into the states around it. One does not need to delve into prophetic books for such wisdom - it is pathetically obvious. There is no money available from the bankrupt United States for development of an Arab economy in Judea, Samaria or in Gaza - but there are plenty of American soldiers just 17 hours away by tank. That portends war, not peace.

So it is clear that the United States is not interested in anything good for the Arabs in the Land of Israel that comes via peace. Therefore, the hand being dealt out is "war", and this is the hand that will be played in the not too distant future.

Case closed.

Sarah,

the kahanite god, a cousin of the taliban god....

ultimately this is not about whose god spoke the truth, is it?

Talk to temporal about gods if you wish, Sarah. He likes to yammer on about them and insult the ones he dislikes. On a site where the concepts that motivate me are considered alien, it is a waste of time for me to raise such issues.

Ruvy

What you say makes no sense whatsoever. You say

"This whole series of events transpiring is about war and conquest by the Arabs of the Land of Israel, and about the United States government (not the people, mind you, the government) finally doing what it has wanted to do for decades - destroy the Jewish entity in the Land of Israel."
What whole series of events? None I can see support your fear. What is your evidence to conclude this? Just about a decade ago Clinton almost reached an agreement with both parties after a lot of hard work. It was Arafat who backed out. Why would any one do that if they intended to destroy Israel to begin with. Successive presidents including Obama have indicated their unequivocal support for Israel. You think they were telling lies. But based on what?

I don't believe it. But suppose your imagination is right. Even then you seem to admit that it is government not the people. I assume that you mean both administration and Congress. Could they do it if there is no support from the people? How could they? They have to sell this to the public. Otherwise there will be riots all over the US.
It was hard enough for them to sell Iraq invasion.

One question you have not answered. What is their motive? What are they to gain?

Please don't harbor unnecessary fear. We have enough problems with justifiable fear. I don't think your fear is worth considering seriously.

I do think that Obama supported by the EU will exert substatnial presure on Israel to be more flexible. That is all. Nothing to worry about.

Morris, There is nothing fore YOU to worry about. The mayor of Ariel (a city a few minutes drive from us) knows better - he sent out an all points SOS to loads of people on the pressure to destroy his city at the behest of the United States.

Put together these facts on the ground:

War is the hand being dealt out, and war is the game that will be played; not necessarily war between the West and Islam, though that possibility is there - but most assuredly a war on the Jews.

That is what the Saudi "peace" initiative is - a plan to make the Jewish state so untenable that war upon it will be an easy task, and it can be destroyed quickly. Do note that the Saudi princes are calling upon the "Blessed of Hussein" to force this plan down Israel's throat. An American general training Arab soldiers for the "Palestinians" warns that in two years these soldiers will attack the Jews. An American advisor to Obama basically calls for an American invasion of Israel. A European fleet sits off the coast of Lebanon. Tens of thousands of missiles sit in Lebanon in the hands of the HizbAllah (and thus in the hands of the Persians), thousands of rockets and missiles now sit in Gaza (and thus also in the hands of the Persians). The Persians pursue a nuclear bomb. To attack who - Pakistan?

War is in the air, and has been for some years. The Arabs listen to Obama in al-Qahir and smell Jewish blood. They are waiting for Obama to deliver. They want ACTION!! And my suspicion is that one way or another, he will.

with these:

You never would have imagined that he had just knifed their country in the stomach; that there was a plan to force Netanyahu from office in two years (reported in the Washington Post on 29 May); that an American general training Arab soldiers for the PA proudly said that if their wasn't peace in two years these soldiers would start to kill Jews; you'd never guess that the American secretary of state had basically stated (not in those words) that all of Judea and Samaria and a good part of Jerusalem had to be Jew-free; you would never guess that a major American security official had called for an American invasion of Israel on TV in the States.

Add to it - the refusal to sell helicopters; the refusal to meet with the IDF Chief of Staff; the insulting treatment Olmert & Livni got from Bush and the Arabs last year.

Take all this together and you get a policy to correct what Secretary of State George Marshall called "a historic error" in 1947 - a Jewish entity in the Lad of Israel.

When you make an error typing, you erase the error - as though it never existed.... That's what Ahmdinejad is talking about.

Figure it out, Morris.

I'm not so much worried as I am resigned to the fact that unless I die from a heart attack or stroke first, I'll die fighting American soldiers in Judea and Samaria. Look at it this way - it's better than dying in a concentration camp - or in an Arab massacre.....

injustice, (occupation) and pride never lasts long as PBS articulated here

history teaches
countries may come
countries may go
tha land remains
blessed
with people
till they forget
humanity
then the cycle
restarts

Ruvy

You know more about that part of the world than I do. But The stories you listed (such as plan to force Netanyahu out in two years) to support your belief are all nonsense peddled by fringe elements of their political and military establishments. I bet not even 1% of the US people will agree with you. I will be very much surprised if one person here will agree with you.

The world is going to see a lot of changes during this century. A lot will be forced due to changing demography. But that is a different subject. I am sure Israel will not be any less safe than now. There is a possibility that it could be even safer if they reach some kind of agreement. I do not believe this is prevailing view in Israel. Is it?. If you are living in the occupied land it is possible that Israel may give up that part in negotiation and you may have to relocate. But that is not the end of Israel. With all due respect Ruvy, this sounds like a paranoia. I cannot say much more than that to convince you otherwise.

You know more about that part of the world than I do.

That is the point, Morris. You do not know at all what goes on here, because you do not know where to look for the data, or even the questions to ask. I've run into the exact same problem when attempting to deal with events or politics on the Sub-Continent. So, I've left off attempting such things.

Many commenters here reflect the Arab line of thinking - and sympathize with the Arabs generally over the Jews - and they will not be persuaded otherwise. So I state my point of view and leave it there.

It is of no interest to me if 1% or 2% or 20% of Americans agree or disagree with me. They do not live here. The same goes for all the other folks on this site who do not live in the neighborhood.

The one single individual who stands out of that lot is the author of this article, Kim. She lives in al-Qahir, and can understand the realities of this part of the world, even if she does not agree with me. In essence, she, in her own comments, appears to reflect the opinions of educated Egyptians around her. But, unlike you, Kim can, if she so desires, go to the kinds of sources I do and more or less comprehend what I'm talking about - again, even if she disagrees with every word.

Ruvy

You will never convince me. It is true that some countries like to wipe Israel off the map. To say that the US is one those countires is absurd. A simple question, why? You did not answer that. Anyway, you have your views and I have mine. Let us wait a few years and see what happens. I think not much is going to change. In the long run however Islam is going to prevail if for no other reason just for the reason of the sheer number. What kind of world that would be is any one's guess. My sincere best wishes to you and yours, Ruvy.

This well written article was about Obama's speech to the Moslem world - or rather it covered the excitement it generated in the city of al-Qahir where Obama spoke.

As we all know, Obama was later photographed "Talking to Netanyahu" with his shoes on the desk facing the photo, and the viewers, presumably the Jewish and Arab readers of the newspapers/web-sites reporting the news. And as most of us know, sticking your shoes in someone's face is an Arab way of showing contempt. So, Obama has automatically established in file photos that he shows contempt for the leader of the Jewish State, and therefore all of the people he leads - particularly Jews.

It matters little what he says further. His contempt, shown in that photo, says it all.

Netanyahu ignored the studied insult and delivered a speech in response to Obama's and was pressured to swallow the "poison pill" of the American state department and the sitting president, "two states for two peoples". He did, albeit hedging about it so many conditions that everyone has rejected his speech. But with time, all of his conditions will disappear as every piece of shit foreign leader pounces on the fact that he accepted the erection of an Arab terror state in Judea, Samaria and Gaza.

I'll leave you to look up the details of his detritus, should you choose.

Instead, I'll bring you the speech that a REAL Jewish leader would have delivered, the speech by Moshe Feiglin, head of the Jewish Leadership Faction of the Likud Party.

These are the words that Obama and his ilk overseas need to hear, and the words that Jews themselves need to help them straighten their backs and stand like men, instead of bent beggars, wheedling nickels and dimes from a bankrupt world.

Some excepts: But there is something much deeper here than just a cynical sacrifice of Israel in exchange for American interests in the Arab world. The real significance of your Cairo speech and your declared Mid-East policy is that eight years after 9/11, the United States â€" under your leadership â€" has raised a white flag before radical Islam, has joined the evil axis, and is at the forefront of the attack against the State of Israel.

The entire world looks on as the president of the United States bows and acquiesces to cruel dictators - while he simultaneously tramples the Israeli prime minister who is showing signs of weakness â€" in a decidedly uncivilized manner.

When Chamberlain acted in a similar manner and sold Czechoslovakia to Hitler, he did not get peace in return. The Chamberlain-like conduct that you have chosen will yet bring upon your country many more 9/11’s, G-d forbid.

It is no coincidence that the President of Egypt did not welcome you at the airport. He didn't even bother to come to hear your speech at the University of Cairo. The Egyptian dictator humiliated you. He knew that you would nevertheless continue to yield to him, as you have conceded to all the criminals of the world.

It is important that you know, Mr. Obama, that Prime Minister Netanyahu's weakness does not at all reflect the sentiments of his nation.

.......................

Mr. President, if you do not want to drown the entire world in yet another blood bath, as Chamberlain triggered with his pacifism, be courageous. Restore your nation to the side of the good, to the side of the nations of liberty.

As a first step toward rectification and moral clarity, I call upon you to release Jonathan Pollard. This precious Jew saved Israel and the entire world from the danger of the nuclear bomb that Sadaam Hussein was developing. He has been imprisoned in difficult conditions in your country for the past 24 years. The continued incarceration of our brother, Jonathan, is a message of hostility toward the Jewish nation and the State of Israel. The time has come to do justice with Jonathan Pollard and to release him to his family, his nation and his land.

For now, we in Israel will focus on the truly important tasks before us; not on the establishment of additional Arab terror states, but on Jewish education, absorption of new immigrants and building our land. We will model our society on the true foundations of a free economy that operates on the Jewish cultural values of faith and loving kindness. We will deepen our connection to the holy Torah of the Land of Israel. We will build a free society for the nation that bears the message of liberty, faith and peace to the entire world.