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Ramallah and gave a state- ment with Palestinian Au- thority Chairman Mahmoud Abbas condemning settle- ment construction. And in his speech to Israeli students on Thursday night, he made an extended appeal asking Israe- lis to take risks for peace and the two-State solution, calling peace “necessary,” “just” and “possible.” “I speak to you as a friend who


Shimon Peres presents the Presidential Medal to Barack Obama in Jerusalem


their two nations’ shared val- ues and security needs. He vis- ited the Israel Museum, viewed the Dead Sea Scrolls, surveyed the Iron Dome missile defense system and saw a host of Israeli high-tech innovations. For Fri- day, his itinerary included visits to the graves of Theodor Herzl, the father of modern Zionism, and slain Israeli Prime Minis- ter Yitzhak Rabin. For the most part, the vis-


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ideology of rejecting Israel’s right to exist, they might as well reject the earth beneath them and the sky above be- cause Israel’s not going any- where,” Obama said during his speech Thursday night at the Jerusalem International Con- vention Center. “And today I want to tell you, particularly the young people, so that there’s no mistake here, so long as there is a United States of Ameri- ca, ‘atem lo l’vad,’ you are not alone.” Before the trip, Israelis


were extremely wary about the U.S. president. He had vis- ited Israel twice before, most recently in 2008, but Israelis were irked that he skipped Is- rael on a Middle East swing in 2009 that included his famous


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lingering from his June 2009 speech in Cairo, when the new president implied that Israel’s legitimacy stemmed from the Holocaust rather than the mil- lennia of Jewish history in the Land of Israel. Obama opened his speech


upon arriving at the airport near Tel Aviv with a little Hebrew, quipping, “It’s good to be back in Israel” in an accent that wasn’t half bad. Obama then paid hom- age to “the historic homeland of the Jewish People.” “More than 3,000 years ago,


the Jewish People lived here, tended the land here, prayed to G-d here,” Obama said. “And af- ter centuries of exile and perse- cution, unparalleled in the his-


Cairo speech. They were put off by his public calls for a freeze on settlement building early in his presidency. They compared him unfavorably to his two prede- cessors, George W. Bush and Bill Clinton. In a 2009 poll, fewer than


10 percent of Israelis had a fa- vorable view of Obama. And a poll conducted this month by the Israel Democracy Institute showed that 54 percent of the 600 Jewish Israelis surveyed said they did not trust Obama to consider and safeguard Isra- el’s interests. After his speech on Thurs-


day, however, some listeners said they had warmed to him. “He was very clear, and he


conveyed a feeling of securi- ty, especially about Iran,” said Hagar Shilo, 23, a political-sci- ence student at Tel Aviv Univer- sity. “He made a lot of pro-Isra- el statements that we hadn’t heard yet — very much like Clinton.” Justice Minister Tzipi Livni,


who heads the government’s Is- raeli-Palestinian negotiations, wrote on Facebook, “Obama’s speech was important and in- spirational. Our job is to apply our Zionist vision, which was re- flected eloquently in his words for Israel’s youth.” To be sure, Obama also chal-


lenged Israel on the trip. He visited the West Bank city of


tory of man, the founding of the Jewish State of Israel was a re- birth, a redemption unlike any in history.” The love-fest continued dur-


ing joint statements with Israe- li President Shimon Peres, who over the past four years has had a friendlier relationship with Obama than Netanyahu. Last year, Obama awarded Peres the Presidential Medal of Freedom; now Peres would present Obama on his visit with Israel’s Pres- idential Medal of Distinction. On Wednesday, Obama and


Netanyahu emphasized the im- portance of Palestinian-Israe- li peace. Obama also illustrat- ed Peres’ decades-long work toward peace with a Talmudic story about a man who plants a tree even though he knows he won’t live to see its fruit.


is deeply concerned and com- mitted to your future,” Obama said. “You have the opportuni- ty to be the generation that per- manently secures the Zionist dream, or you can face a grow- ing challenge to its future. Giv- en the demographics west of the Jordan River, the only way for Israel to endure and thrive as a Jewish and democratic State is through the realization of an independent and viable Pales- tine.” Mostly, though, Obama sought


to use this trip to reassure Is- raelis, including on Iran. “We agree that a nuclear-


armed Iran would be a threat to the region, a threat to the world and potentially an ex- istential threat to Israel,” Oba- ma said at a news conference with Netanyahu. “We do not have a policy of containment when it comes to a nuclear Iran. Our policy is to prevent Iran from acquiring a nuclear weapon.” Even many of those who


disagreed with Obama’s pol- icies on Israel said they were encouraged by his decision to visit Israel. Tel Aviv University student


Yanai Cohen, who attended the Thursday night speech, said he doesn’t agree with the two-State solution and felt that Obama had disparaged Israel’s government. But, he said, what mattered


most now was Obama’s decision to visit Israel. “Coming here is a sign,” Cohen said. “It shows commitment.” o


“As my forefathers planted for


me, so will I plant for my chil- dren,” said Obama, quoting the famous passage. A military band played Israe-


li standards for the president as he disembarked from Air Force One, and a children’s choir ser- enaded him after his meeting with Peres. On Wednesday, the theme of


the trip looked to be reconcili- ation. Asked about the Israe- li public’s relative coolness to- ward Obama — a poll conduct- ed this month by the Israel De- mocracy Institute showed that 54 percent of 600 Jewish Israe- lis surveyed do not trust Obama to consider and safeguard Isra- el’s interests — Netanyahu said, “People should get to know Pres- ident Obama the way I’ve got- ten to know him.”


o


Photo Mark Neyman/GPO/Flash 90


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