Palestinian zebras…

How appropriate that the fake  government in a fake peace process now has a zoo with  …  fake zebras.

Netanyahu bites back…

This is the full text of Netanyahu’s speech Sunday.   In my opinion, Bibi hasn’t backed down an inch in the face of Obama’s insults and slights.    Yes,  the Israeli Prime Minister is a politician,  but there’s a difference between politics and principles,  unless you’re Barack Obama,  in which case your sole principle is your accrual of power and control.

The Jerusalem Post puts the requirements simply.   I think it’s safe to say the Arab world will reject anything which requires a change of the Palestinian charter (which calls for Israel’s destruction),  and we will soon hear the whining and complaining and blaming Israel begin anew,  as we always do.

Are Netanyahu’s conditions harsh?   Perhaps,  but only an idiot would agree to anything which allows Hamas to freely fire more rockets from Gaza,  and the various other Palestinian factions to continue their attacks.   The PM knows from bitter experience that appeasement and land for peace don’t work.

Of course,  Netanyahu probably knows what the Weekly Standard reported after Obama’s Cairo speech  —  that Arab journalists refused to join the after-speech roundtable because a Jew was present.    Why has no one else remarked on the Arab behavior?  Because that would force them to admit the Arab pathologies and the instant failure of the speech.

I suggest you check in with the Middle East Media Research Institute to learn what the Arab world actually says for local consumption,  not the gentle declarations issued in English for the gullible and naive Western press and politicians.

Several sources are teling us that Hamas is slamming the  address,  but only one is reporting the Palestinian Authority’s claim that the Obama administration told them to pay no attention to Netanyahu’s speech,  which they hate, of course.

Theater in Egypt…

Here is Obama’s much-touted speech,  as it was to be given.    I didn’t watch it,  having no desire to waste the cool very early morning hours before the storms came watching His Oneness perform his either/or dance,  which I’ve seen too many times already.

My first reaction is that he has confirmed for the Arab world that it need not consider Israel,  which he telegraphed by not visiting Israel.    There is no such place as “Palestine”,  no such people as “Palestinians”,  yet Obama acts as if both have some grand moral claim beyond being convenient tools skillfully used by Arab nations for sixty years to avoid the reality of their own failures.    Jordan and Egypt were only too happy to dump their worst troublemakers into the disputed land so they could complain endlessly and do nothing.

Again I am struck by the president’s misuse and misunderstanding of history.    Islam hasn’t called for tolerance since its founder decided the honey he initially preached had snared enough followers;   then he began preaching dominance and death.    The part about Islam having   “always been a part of America’s story”  especially irritated me.    See Andy McCarthy’s post  for why.

Andy also wonders if he mentioned placing  “the interests of your people and the legitimate workings of the political process above your party” to Eric Holder before dismissing the case  against the Black Panthers in Philly.

He yet again sought to apologize for America’s role in the mistrust and misunderstanding,  plopping down moral equivalencies like so many cow pies.    He mentioned the 9/11 conspiracy believers without a hint of awareness that the Egyptian government itself promotes such theories.

The two glaring omissions?    The words “terrorism” and “democracy.” Wait,  it appears he did use the latter word,  once.    Pres.   Bush did not shy from those terms and delivered the same message of respect and value,  to no avail.    I doubt they will listen to Pres. Obama either.    Bush’s perspective on that troubled region of the world is likely correct.

All in all,  this speech was as unrealistic and platitudinous as the European speech,  but it was what I’ve come to expect from His Oneness  — a lot of airy speech about sugar plum fairy visions and not a hint of a concrete policy,  much less of a plan.    He cravenly brought up the closure of Gitmo as an applause line without mentioning he has no foggy idea of how to do it.

I am sorry to say that the fat old tyrants of the Middle East had already sized up our president and found him wanting.   This speech has confirmed their judgment,  and they will praise him while doing none of the things he ostensibly required of them.

I’ll let Michael Rubin have the last summation.