Netanyahu in Congress

I did not hear his speech. However, from all reports, he really wowed the crowd:

Interrupted dozens of times by standing ovations, after minutes-long applause as he entered the chamber, Netanyahu also said that there are 300 million Arabs in the MIddle East, but the only ones who are free are Israeli citizens.

I saw some excellent analysis in the jblogosphere:

Netanyahu’s Job Well Done

Israel: My Land, and that of the Jewish People

So, Bibi, Let Me Get This Straight...

The More Israel Offers, The More The Arabs Demand

Personally, I do not agree with everything that Bibi said. What is good is that he is not willing to give anything until all of the issues with the Arabs have been resolved. The "land for terror" policy of past Israeli administrations has been put to rest.

It seems to me that President Obama cannot ignore the great support that Bibi enjoys in the Congress. I think that he also understands that what he said in the Cairo speech, in retrospect, was an error:

Around the world, the Jewish people were persecuted for centuries, and anti-Semitism in Europe culminated in an unprecedented Holocaust. Tomorrow, I will visit Buchenwald, which was part of a network of camps where Jews were enslaved, tortured, shot and gassed to death by the Third Reich. Six million Jews were killed – more than the entire Jewish population of Israel today. Denying that fact is baseless, ignorant, and hateful. Threatening Israel with destruction – or repeating vile stereotypes about Jews – is deeply wrong, and only serves to evoke in the minds of Israelis this most painful of memories while preventing the peace that the people of this region deserve.

On the other hand, it is also undeniable that the Palestinian people – Muslims and Christians – have suffered in pursuit of a homeland. For more than sixty years they have endured the pain of dislocation. Many wait in refugee camps in the West Bank, Gaza, and neighboring lands for a life of peace and security that they have never been able to lead. They endure the daily humiliations – large and small – that come with occupation. So let there be no doubt: the situation for the Palestinian people is intolerable. America will not turn our backs on the legitimate Palestinian aspiration for dignity, opportunity, and a state of their own.

This disgusting attempt to equate the suffering of the "Palestinians" with the holocaust is fraudulent on so many different levels! Among them being is that if the Arabs did not try throwing the Jews into the sea, they would not have been dislocated! Most Israelis understand English. When the heard such outrageous demagoguery from Obama, they wrote him off as a friend of Israel. His attempt to give legitimization to the pathetic J-Street lobby was also a blunder.

I think that Obama also understands that forcing Bibi to impose a "building freeze" and the bellicose reactions of Mrs. Hillary Clinton every time that Israel wants to build an apartment building in Jerusalem did not win him any friends here. What's more, it did not cause any flexibility on the side of the Arabs: it only increased their appetite for more.

The Republicans seem to be having trouble fielding a serious candidate for President of the United States. We could likely end up with four more years of Obama. Let's hope that the President has learned from his mistakes. Let's hope that he understands that Jews in the land of Israel are neither occupiers nor colonialists. We are an ancient nation that has returned to its homeland! Let's hope that he has learned to differentiate between the friends and the foes of the American People.