As I look over Obama’s Nobel speech, which includes a lot of stentorian talk about a new commitment to peace-making and to international human rights standards, I notice no reference to Israel-Palestine directly, just this:
And yet somehow, given the dizzying pace of globalization, the cultural leveling of modernity, it perhaps comes as no surprise that people fear the loss of what they cherish in their particular identities — their race, their tribe, and perhaps most powerfully their religion. In some places, this fear has led to conflict. At times, it even feels like we’re moving backwards. We see it in the Middle East, as the conflict between Arabs and Jews seems to harden. We see it in nations that are torn asunder by tribal lines.
It strikes me as resigned. He has to know that the human-rights standards is laughable hypocrisy in light of Gaza/Goldstone, so he better avoid that whole subject. And as for all the speeches earlier this year in which Obama trumpeted our efforts in Israel and Palestine, gone by the boards, thanks to Netanyahu and the lobby and the neverending "peace process" that serves occupation. Maybe Obama’s being passive-aggressive about that– when he criticizes the hardening of Jewish identity.
