US President Barack Obama delivered a rousing speech directly to the Israeli people at a pre-scheduled address in Jerusalem Thursday afternoon, as he told the audience the Jewish State was rooted in 2the idea that people deserve to be free in a land of their own”.
Echoing the gratefully-received sentiments he expressed a day previously in a joint press conference with Israeli Premier Benjamin Netanyahu, he paid tribute to Israel’s numerous achievements, in particular its thriving democracy, “spirited civil society, proud political parties, a tireless free press, and a lively public debate”, despite having simultaneously “overcome relentless threats to its security – through the courage of the Israel Defence Forces, and a citizenry that is resilient in the face of terror”.
Continuing the charge from his earlier press conference from Ramallah alongside Palestinian Authority President Mahmoud Abbas, he denounced rocket attacks from Gaza as “unacceptable” following the morning’s launch of two Kassam rockets from the Strip at the Israeli town of Sderot, as he insisted that “Israel has a right to expect Hamas to renounce violence and recognise Israel’s right to exist”.
Invoking last July’s deadly terrorist attack on Israelis in the Bulgarian town of Burgas, for which Bulgarian authorities last month declared Lebanese militant group Hezbollah responsible in line with previous Israeli and US conclusions, he added that “every country that values justice should call Hezbollah what it truly is – a terrorist organization. Because the world cannot tolerate an organization that murders innocent civilians, stockpiles rockets to shoot at cities, and supports the massacre of men, women and children in Syria”.
Recalling the post-Holocaust era foundations of the State of Israel, he acknowledge the legitimacy of Israel’s concerns regarding the existential threats posed to it by Iran’s nuclear weapons program, as he insisted America as Israel’s close ally shared the challenge posed by the Islamist regime, as he insisted that “strong and principled diplomacy is the best way to ensure that the Iranian government forsakes nuclear weapons. Moreover, peace is far more preferable to war, and the inevitable costs – and unintended consequences – that would come with it”. Close cooperation on all fronts between the US and Israel convinced both administrations, he added, that time still remained for the diplomatic track to yield results, reiterating his assertion to Netanyahu that the Iranian nuclear threat is “not a danger that can be contained”.
The security of Israel, he insisted, was of paramount importance, especially for a State “surrounded by many in this region who reject it, and many in the world who refuse to accept it”, as he vowed that with America at its side “Israel is not going anywhere”. Recalling the decision of former US President Truman to become the first international power to official recognise Israel only 11 minutes after its formal creation, he paraphrased the former leader’s words in saying I believe it has a glorious future before it not just as another sovereign nation, but as an embodiment of the great ideals of our civilisation”.
At this point, Obama diverged from the rhetoric that had characterised the first 24 hours of his visit to Israel, as he realised his promise of the previous day to discuss Mid East peace prospects in greater detail, in light of his earlier meeting with Abbas. Conceding that Israel had historically “extended a hand of friendship (to the Palestinians), and too often have been confronted with the ugly reality of anti-Semitism”, he said that scepticism of achieving peace was a natural accompaniment to a desire to nevertheless achieve it.
Declaring himself “a friend who is deeply concerned and committed to your future”, the President adopted a critical tone as he called on Israeli authorities to “reverse an undertow of isolation”, which has placed the Jewish State on the receiving end of increasing criticism from its international allies, and the EU in particular, with regard to its continued settlement expansion program, as well as its blockade of the Gaza Strip.
Conceding that “security must be at the centre of any agreement”, he provoked a lone instance of heckling in what was otherwise a crowd-pleasing address, as he insisted that “Israelis must recognize that continued settlement activity is counterproductive to the cause of peace, and that an independent Palestine must be viable– that real borders will have to be drawn”.
Softening his vehement tone, he added that peace begins “not just in the plans of leaders, but in the hearts of people not just in a carefully designed process, but in the daily connections that take place among those who live together in this land, and in this sacred city of Jerusalem”. Seemingly invoking the popular uprisings that led to the displacement of authoritarian regimes across the Arab world in 2011, he concluded that “political leaders will not take risks if the people do not demand that they do. You must create the change that you want to see”.
Of those sceptical of peace, he continued: “There will be many voices that say this change is not possible. But remember this: Israel is the most powerful country in this region. Israel has the unshakeable support of the most powerful country in the world. Israel has the wisdom to see the world as it is, but also the courage to see the world as it should be. Ben Gurion once said, “In Israel, in order to be a realist you must believe in miracles.” Sometimes, the greatest miracle is recognizing that the world can change. After all, that is a lesson that the world learned from the Jewish people.”
Previewing his final day’s visits to the graves of Theodor Herzl and Yitzhak Rabin Friday, as well as tour to Yad Vashem Holocaust Memorial Museum, he returned to his starting point of Israel as a post-Shoah democracy, as he rounded out his address: “We bear that history on our shoulders, and we carry it in our hearts. Today, as we face the twilight of Israel’s founding generation, you – the young people of Israel – must now claim the future. It falls to you to write the next chapter in the story of this great nation.”