Matzah, charoset and bitter herbs graced the president’s dinner table April 9, as Barack Obama became the first sitting president to host a Passover seder in the White House. According to the Jerusalem Post, attendees were to include Chief of Staff Rahm Emanuel and presidential adviser David Axelrod.
It’s a move that brings smiles to Jewish faces around the country.
For many who long for peace in the Middle East, the administration’s recent foreign policy moves in the region might also bring smiles.
On his just-concluded overseas trip, Obama reached out to the Muslim world, saying in a speech to the Turkish parliament that the United States “is not and never will be at war with Islam.”
He also said his administration will “actively pursue” the goal of a Palestinian state alongside Israel. While that sentiment reflects longstanding American policy, the president’s forcefulness — especially given the hawkish new Israeli government — may worry some supporters of Israel.
They may worry even more after Arab leaders applauded Obama’s remarks in Turkey. Syria’s foreign minister called the speech “important” and “positive.” Egypt’s foreign minister praised it as “insightful and credible.”
This is on top of the administration’s recent diplomatic overtures to Syria and Iran.
We understand the concern some in Israel’s corner feel. They suspect any tilt toward evenhandedness may bring about decreased American support of Israel — financially, militarily and otherwise.
So far, we support the administration’s outreach to the Arab and Muslim world. Obama does not see the Middle East as a zero-sum game, in which Israel loses if the Arabs gain. He wants a real peace for all parties, and to do that he needs the Muslim world on board.
We might fret about the shifting winds, were it not for equally forceful pro-Israel comments Obama made on his trip. He told a group of students in Istanbul to look at the “two sides” of the Arab Israeli conflict, adding, “In the Muslim world, the notion that somehow everything is the fault of the Israelis lacks balance … Learning to stand in someone else’s shows, to see through their eyes, this is how peace begins.”
This may seem like elementary advice to pro-Israel Jews, but for Muslims, it’s earthshaking, especially if they follow it.
We believe the administration is committed to Israel’s security, and that it will honor, in full, all existing aid agreements.
At the end of the day, that is what matters. At the end of tomorrow, perhaps, we will see positive changes toward peace.