We Were All Duped. . .

. . .About Barak Obama. Well, I will exclude myself in this: I had grave misgivings about him, given his history of associations and affiliations (read about some of them here and here.)

But the vast majority (as written in Commentary Magazine) of Jews in the U.S. did vote for him: around 78%. Historically, we Jews vote Democratic, because of our long-standing concern about social justice and reform--for which the Democratic Party (supposedly) stands--which I attribute to social values stemming from the Torah, even though many secular or unaffiliated Jews might not be aware or disagree.

But after Mr. Obama was elected, I hoped for the best, and was ready to support and rally behind my President, in his attempts to right the wrongs and evils of this country and the world.

These days, however, I am getting more and more worried about him, now that he is spreading his--in my opinion, extremely misguided--message of how to achieve 'peace in the Middle East' to the Arab countries, most recently in his speech in Egypt.

His message indicates that he has a very shallow knowledge of Middle East history nor does he have any understanding of the Arab mentality: Mr. Obama is pushing the "Two State Solution," with a ferocity not seen in recent past administrations.

He is playing right into the so-called Palestinians' hands by placing the onus on Israel, and basically not requiring anything of the Arabs-an extremely one-sided, unjust deal. I had my problems with Bush's "Road Map," but this is even worse: Obama is preaching to the entire world words which indicate that Israel, and Israel alone-is the culprit by creating obstacles to peace in the Middle East.

It's as if he is taking a quick screen snapshot of Israel and the Arabs living in Gaza and Judea and Samaria (the so-called 'West Bank') today, totally disregarding the events and attitudes which led to the current situation.

By doing thus, he is also totally disregarding the truth and the responsibility of the Arabs to do their part to promote peace.

Daniel Pipes calls it a Rapid and Harsh Turn Against Israel, pretty strong words. All the Arabs have to do is sit back and wait with folded arms while the U.S. forces Israel to comply with its conditions. It lets them off the hook: they are (so it would seem), not responsible for attacking the state of Israel on the eve of its inception in 1948, for the aggression in the Sinai in 1953, for initiating the war in 1967, for the Yom Kippur War in 1973, for forcing Israel into Lebanon in 1981--not to even mention their unprovoked attacks on Jews in Israel before it was Israel, as in Hevron in 1929.
And what about the expulsions and massacres of the Jews from Arab lands? When were these atrocities and injustices ever addressed by the world or by Israel's supposed ally, the United States? Consider this by Ben-Dror Yemini (as seen on Solomonia, excerpted here):

A long series of massacres was perpetrated against the Jews in Arab countries. They did not declare war on the countries in which they lived. They were loyal citizens. That did not help them. Their suffering was erased. Their story is never told. The Palestinian narrative has taken over history. There is no need for a Palestinian narrative versus a Zionist narrative. We need to shake off narratives in favor of the truth. And the truth is the number of Jews murdered was greater, their dispossession was greater, and their suffering greater.

A stunning testimonial from those years, which actually comes from the Arab side, sheds light on the issue. In 1936, Alawite notables sent a letter to the French Foreign Minister in which they expressed their concern for the future of the region. They also referred to the Jewish question: "The Jews brought civilization and peace to the Arab Muslims, and they dispersed gold and prosperity over Palestine without damage to anyone or taking anything by force. Despite this, the Muslims declared holy war against them and didn't hesitate to massacre their children and women ... Thus, a black fate awaits the Jews in case the Mandates are cancelled and Muslim Syria united with Muslim Palestine." The interesting thing is that one of the letter's signatories was none other than the great grandfather of Bashar Al Assad, the president of Syria.

Read Elie Hertz's open letter to President Obama on Myths and Facts, which I actually found on Twitter from the Jewish Internet Defense Force (JIDF).

In my opinion, the letter is good, but too mild. What I would say to our president, Mr. Obama, is a bit stronger:

Mr. President, in order to implement peace in the Middle East, you should first

1) Force the Arabs to admit to and right the wrongs they committed against the Jewish people, unprovoked: they should make reparations for the massacres of men, women and children, as well as the theft of Jewish money and property worth billions when they were expelled from Arab countries, then

2) As a condition for peace, all the Arab countries must first recognize the State of Israel as a Jewish State, and recognize its right to exist, and

3) Accept Israel's annexation of all the lands captured in all the defensive wars it had to wage for its own survival, including the so-called 'West Bank' (historically Judea and Samaria, land which was under Jewish sovereignty), as part and parcel of the Jewish State of Israel, and lastly,

4) Accept the transfer of those 'Palestinians' who do not want to live under Jewis rule into the area that was 78% of 'Palestine,' that is--Jordan--whose population is mainly Palestinian to this day--or to any other Arab country.

Let the Arabs finally take full responsibility for their own actions--for terrorism, for past atrocities, and for the welfare of their own people--as ADULTS.

Then, and only then, will there be a chance for a true and just peace in the Middle East.

Shabbat Shalom.