Dana Milbank’s latest Washington Post column on Obama’s trip mentions that heckler during the Thursday speech:
“Even a heckler demanding the release of Jonathan Pollard, a spy for Israel, didn’t interfere with Obama’s friendly spirit. “I have to say, we actually arranged for that because it made me feel at home,” he told the crowd.
The claim apparently originated in a White House press pool report which we also propagated:
There was a heckler about 15 minutes into remarks. Man standing to Obama’s left back near center press platform began shouting in Hebrew. A reliable Hebrew speaker seated near pool says the shouting was about Pollard. We presume calling for his release. Pool couldn’t see what happened to the heckler. “This is part of the lively debate that we talked about,” Obama said after pausing for the interruption. The crowd seemed to boo the heckler then began applauding. Eventually most in the audience rose to their feet, giving the president a standing ovation. The friendly response seemed to be unanimous or nearly so.
Linah Alsaafin reported at EI:
Twenty-five-year-old Rabeea Eid, a student activist and member of the National Democratic Assembly, had heard and had enough. He stood up in the middle of Obama’s speech and called him out on three issues that summarized the flaccid nature and flagrant inefficacy of Obama’s visit to occupied Palestine.
“Did you really come here for peace or to give Israel more weapons to kill and destroy the Palestinian people? Did you happen to see the apartheid wall on your way here?”
“There are Palestinians sitting in this hall. This state should be for all of its citizens, not a Jewish state only.”
“Who killed Rachel Corrie? Rachel Corrie was killed by your money and weapons!”
The Washington Post has itself corrected the error. “Obama heckled in Jerusalem,” by Rachel Weiner:
The man was shouting in Hebrew. He later identified himself as Rabeea Eid, an Arab-Israeli student activist from Haifa University. He questioned whether President Obama really supported peace and asked about the death of Rachel Corrie, an American activist who was killed by an Israeli bulldozer in Gaza in 2003. In an interview with the Jerusalem Post, Eid called Obama’s speech “extremist and Zionist.”
“It was a tacit admission of failure, yet everybody seemed happier with the scaled-back aspirations.”
Does Dana seriously believe Palestinians were happier with “scaled-back aspirations” that leave occupation in place?”
“Everybody” means “everybody that matters”.
Phil, Fox news and Imus In The Morning also erroneously mentioned the heckler was railing against Obama’s lack of a Pollard pardon. On your own website here, before you took up this breaking news today, regular commenters had already stated the heckler spoke of Obama’s failure to address the Palestinian misery, ending up with his question to Obama about Rachel Corrie. But I am glad regular commenters here are often ahead of you. I suggest you read them more quickly as part of your agenda. They are just people without any power base at all, but they are quick keen on issues your blog addresses.
Linah’s article is great. I really like her way of writing. Read this:
“Of course, Obama didn’t see the apartheid wall on his way from Ramallah to Jerusalem, he was too busy reveling in orgasmic pleasure at Israel’s innovative technology (with bases set up on occupied lands), its vibrant ancient history, and the mighty brave ‘Israeli Defense Forces’ (who by the way arrested 30 schoolchildren on Wednesday in the old city of Hebron.)”
The guy turns more despicable and sinister by the moment.
What the Zionist-owned corporate media doesn’t dare say:
The fact that a majority booed this ‘heckler’ says alot about the views of the audience.