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What Begin Would Have Told Obama

Shlomi Eldar considers what a meeting between former Prime Minister Menachem Begin and current US president Barack Obama would have looked like, being reminded of Begin’s meetings with President Jimmy Carter, which paved the way for a peace agreement with Egypt.
U.S. President Barack Obama acknowledges the audience after delivering a speech on policy at the Jerusalem Convention Center, March 21, 2013. President Obama, delivering a keynote speech to Israeli students, said on Thursday that continued settlement activity was "counterproductive" to peace and urged Israelis to accept the Palestinians' right to self-determination.  REUTERS/Jason Reed   (JERUSALEM - Tags: POLITICS) - RTR3F9ZN
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The truth is that I was very moved when President Barack Obama’s Air Force One set down on the tarmac of Ben Gurion Airport. Maybe it was because of the festive atmosphere: the IDF Band playing the national anthems of both countries; the honor guard standing at attention in fresh, crisp uniforms; and all the country’s political and military leaders standing beside the red carpet, waiting for a close-up view of the man who made history just by being elected president of the world’s greatest superpower. There he was: young, energetic, well-informed, and doing everything he could to prove that he is a true friend of Israel.

Still, his trip wasn’t all that successful until he gave his “Jerusalem Speech,” the day after his arrival [March 21]. In it, he kept giving us his solemn vow that he would guarantee the security of my country. What more did I need to get excited and to feel like I was “soaring on the wings of history,” as they say? When the presidential elections of 2008 were over, and Obama gave his victory speech in Chicago before thousands upon thousands of ecstatic Americans, even I shed a tear. 

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