#Obama Middle East Speech: A Big and Revealing Mistake That Nobody Has Noticed

By Barry Rubin

There is a small detail at the end of Obama’s big Middle East speech that everyone has overlooked up until now but which shows how inept this administration is at understanding the IsraelI-Palestinian issue and why it continually makes Israel mistrustful.
In doing his balancing act on Israeli and Palestinian fears and hostility, he says this:

“I’m convinced that the majority of Israelis and Palestinians would rather look to the future than be trapped in the past….We see it in the actions of a Palestinian who lost three daughters to Israeli shells in Gaza. `I have the right to feel angry,’ he said. `So many people were expecting me to hate. My answer to them is I shall not hate. Let us hope,’ he said, `for tomorrow.’”

That’s genuinely touching. But in the specific case Obama cites — that of Izzedin Abuelaish on January 16, 2009 — there is strong reason to believe that the three girls were killed because of Hamas, that is Palestinian, actions.
According to an official Israeli inquiry, Hamas snipers on the roof of their five-story building were shooting at Israeli soldiers. The tank returned fire. In addition, though, the investigation could not rule out the possibility that the girls were killed by an explosion of explosives and ammunition being stored in the building by Hamas or even by fire from Hamas forces.

FULL STORY