WASHINGTON - Democratic presidential candidate Barack Obama may have taken care of his Hamas problem on Wednesday with a speech to the AIPAC pro-Israel lobby.
The Illinois senator was ridiculed, criticized and generally harassed back in April when a top Hamas adviser, Ahmed Yousef, told a radio interviewer that the Palestinian militant group — considered a terrorist organization 
by the U.S. government — liked Obama and hoped he would win the U.S. presidential election.
Yousef’s remarks were labeled a Hamas endorsement and Republican John McCain used them as part of a fundraising appeal to supporters. Obama’s denunciations of Hamas and criticism of McCain over the incident did little to undo the damage.
That may have changed Wednesday, when Obama went before American Israel Public Affairs Committee in Washington a day after clinching the Democratic nomination and declared his strong support for Israel.
Israel’s security is sacrosanct and it must retain a qualitative military advantage, Obama said. Any peace deal must include Palestinian recognition that Jerusalem would remain Israel’s undivided capital, he said.
Hamas promply unendorsed Obama, a Christian who has had difficulty dispelling a rumor campaign suggesting he is a Muslim and that his advisers have a pro-Arab bent.
“Obama’s comments have confirmed that there will be no change in the U.S. administration’s foreign policy on the Arab-Israeli conflict,” Hamas official Sami Abu Zuhri told Reuters in Gaza.
“The Democratic and Republican parties support totally the Israeli occupation at the expense of the interests and rights of Arabs and Palestinians,” he said.
“Hamas does not differentiate between the two presidential candidates, Obama and McCain, because their policies regarding the Arab-Israel conflict are the same and are hostile to us, therefore we do have no preference and are not wishing for either of them to win,” Zuhri said.
Click here for more Reuters 2008 campaign coverage.
Photo credit: Reuters/Kevin Lamarque (Obama speaks at AIPAC conference)
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[...] a lack of both global and domestic political knowledge in a single sentence]. Hamas “unendorsed” Obama after his AIPAC speech, although Obama backtracked on his commitment to an undivided [...]
- Posted by Defining Pro-Israel | Cross-CurrentsNo ‘Siege’ of Gaza
•A Siege is an act of surrounding and attacking in order to cut off supply and aid.
•Israel is neither surrounding nor attacking Gaza, nor has Israel cut off supplies or aid.
•Israel has withdrawn from Gaza to promote peace, whilst facing a constant barrage of rocket attacks perpetrated by Hamas.
•Israel maintains a constant flow of humanitarian aid into Gaza to relieve the suffering of Palestinians under the Hamas regime, whilst admitting thousands of sick Palestinians into Israel for medical treatment in Israeli hospitals.
Hospital Access Facts: (Source COGAT, Israel’s Unit for Coordination of Government Activities in Territories)
o 2006 4,754 hospital entry permits given to Palestinians from Gaza into Israel
o 2007 7,226 hospital entry permits given
o 2008 2,317 hospital permits given in Jan to Feb alone.
•All permits include one family member
•Palestinians receive world class treatment in major Israeli hospitals.
•No distinction made by doctors between Palestinian and Israeli patients
•Hamas members are treated in Israeli hospitals regardless of their previous actions
•Barzilai hospital treated Gazan Palestinians whilst the hospital was under rocket attack.
•From Jan 2007 to Feb 2008, 14,297 Palestinians were treated in Israeli hospitals
•During the same period Israel suffered 1,110 rocket attacks and 1,384 mortar attacks.
•These attacks have a devastating effect on the 200,000 residents of Israeli towns near Gaza
Conclusion
- Posted by Beyond_Images_234The term ‘siege’ when applied to Israel’s policy towards Gaza is a fallacy. The Israeli Government continues to uphold its ethical commitment to providing medical care for Palestinians living under Hamas control, even whilst local Israeli towns suffer Gazan rocket attacks. This shows Israel’s high level of commitment to provision of hospital access to civilians in Gaza regardless of the constant attacks on Israeli population centers.
Israel does Provide humanitarian Aid
- Posted by Beyond ImagesUpon reading many of the blogs posted here, I must clarify something.
- Posted by LeeMost Americans agree with the lofty words and visions for world peace that Obama so eloquently pontificates in his speeches … It’s Obama we don’t trust. those of you who hypnotically fawn over Obama take everything he says as gospel. But, you don’t even know the man. You assume that because his words are worthy, he is trustworthy. People they are just words! Obama, the man who is speaking those words has a horrible track record. He did nothing as a senator. He spent the last 20 years accepting an anti-American racist as his mentor. His associations have been with extremely unsavory people. However, you Obamabots keep trying to characterize the rest of us as disagreeing with what Obama says … when it’s Obama himself we don’t trust … nor should you!
[...] Note: Hamas has since withdrawn it’s support of Obama, following his pandering speech before the American Israel Public [...]
- Posted by Radicals, Terrorists And Tyrants Of The World Root For Obama « Nice Deb